Dawn of Evil_FBI Flashback

by Morgan Kelley

  It was sexy.

  She nodded.

  “I don’t know how to do it, and I don’t want to hurt you because I jack it up.”

  She wasn’t screwing it up.

  Instead of upsetting him, it actually helped. Maybe she was just as confused as he was about the whole thing. He’d only dated a couple girls, and they were in college. He’d never really wanted anything permanent with someone.

  Until her.

  Chris couldn’t ever see himself getting married, but he knew that when he saw her, she was meant to be part of him. They were both married to their jobs.

  But that didn’t mean they couldn’t be together.

  “I don’t know how to do it either, Elizabeth. Maybe we can learn together.”

  She didn’t know what to say.

  So she bolted like a big chicken.

  “Let’s get this done.”

  Chris didn’t push her.

  That she’d even shared that much was huge. He knew she really had to be having a hard time with it if she even brought it up.

  He kept it in mind as he hopped out of the vehicle.

  Elizabeth watched him snap his gun back onto his belt.

  It scared the shit out of her.

  Him running around…

  “Uh…is that really a good idea?”

  “It’s to keep you safe. You’re my partner. I might just be the ME, but someone has to have your back.”

  Oh, never were there ever more scary words for her. With carrying a gun came a great responsibility and danger.

  Elizabeth moved around the vehicle and touched his chest. To anyone watching, it would look like some romantic embrace, but it was anything but.

  She could feel his muscles react to her fingers.

  He wasn’t wearing a vest.

  That’s where she drew the line.

  “You can’t carry a gun without Kevlar, Christopher. By wearing or pulling a gun, you become the target. Most shots are aimed at the core. Take off your jacket and shirt.”

  “Here?”

  She was dead serious.

  “Yes, here.”

  “I think I’ll be okay at the police station.”

  “Chris, that’s my rule. If you strap on that,” she said, pointing at the gun, “you strap on this,” she said, pulling spare Kevlar from the back of the vehicle. She always had the team bring extra.

  Just in case.

  He pulled off his jacket and unbuttoned his dress shirt. While he stripped in the parking lot, she checked the front and back of the Kevlar for ceramic. It had both plates, and they were in pristine condition.

  It would keep a body shot from killing him.

  The rest?

  She tried not to think about it.

  Helping him drop it over his head, Elizabeth Velcro-ed him into it.

  “This sucks,” he said, as it felt awkward on his body—not to mention it was bulky.

  “Yeah, and you’ll sweat your ass off on a hot day, but if someone shoots at your heart, you won’t die. That’s the important part.”

  “Your job is really dangerous,” he said.

  Before, he thought about it, but her words, this vest…they made him realize that she could get hurt.

  She found it funny that he was just saying that.

  “Yeah, I’m aware. I’m a fish in a barrel,” she stated. “It goes with the job. When you got your HR packet on your first day, did it have a life insurance policy rider?”

  “Uh, nothing more than the standard. Did yours?”

  “Yeah, and I think Gabe took an additional one out on me. I can’t be sure,” she teased.

  That horrified him.

  Chris let her help him back into the starched white dress shirt, and she even did up the buttons.

  “I worry about you,” he said. “Daily.”

  She stared into his baby blue eyes.

  “It’s nice to have someone to worry about me. It’s a tough world out there when you’re alone.”

  Chris always would. When she walked out of the morgue, he said a prayer to a God he didn’t believe in, simply because she wore a tiny gold cross around her neck.

  She believed.

  He did it for her.

  Pulling his jacket back on, he was ready.

  Then she punched him in the chest as hard as she could, and it caught him off guard.

  “SHIT! That hurt!”

  She laughed at the horrified look on his face.

  “Oh, my friend. That was nothing. If you get hit by a bullet, it’s a million times worse. Remember that—bob and weave.”

  “I will.”

  “Let’s go. I want to meet with the detectives who caught this clusterfuck. I’m sure it’s going to be nothing but a good time for us.”

  Chris followed her up the stairs and into the precinct. The second she cleared the door, the shit began. They could hear the comments about there being a ‘rat’ in the house. They could hear the shitty comments about her, even though they didn’t know her.

  There were sexist comments about her tits.

  Her ass.

  It pissed Chris off.

  Elizabeth…she ignored it.

  This was every day of her life when she walked into a local precinct. They hated the FBI. If they only knew how bad she could be, they’d really hate her.

  At the desk, she pulled her badge.

  Chris did the same as he watched her and tried to learn how to be a Fed.

  “Special Agent Elizabeth LaRue and this is Doctor Christopher Leonard. We’re here to speak to Detectives O’Brien and Bronson.”

  The man smiled at her.

  “Aren’t you a pretty thing?” he asked, leaning on the counter. “Want to get a beer later?” the desk cop asked.

  She stared him in the eyes.

  “Absolutely.”

  Chris stared at her.

  Shit!

  Did she just accept a date in front of him? Like he was invisible?

  This was his fear.

  “Really?” the cop asked.

  She laughed.

  “Yeah, well, just not with you. You’re not my type. You could be my daddy. I like my men younger and actually born in the same decade I was. Take your fetish elsewhere.”

  The man stared at her.

  Clearly, she’d caught him off guard.

  “To your left, up the stairs, and down the hall.”

  She smiled sweetly at him.

  “Thanks, pops.”

  They headed away. “I really thought you were going to do it,” Chris muttered.

  She laughed her ass off.

  “No way. He’s not my type. Seriously. If I went out with every guy who checked out my tits, I’d never be alone.”

  He didn’t like that at all.

  That little fact horrified him.

  Now he realized all the men were gunning for the woman he wanted in his life.

  They were his tits.

  Well, he wanted them to be.

  She hustled up the stairs and briefed him on the way of what to say and do.

  “Okay, here are the rules. Give them no information, and if they are assholes, don’t react. They will ride ass to begin with, simply because I’m a Fed, and then secondly, because I don’t have a dick. Anything you say can and will be used against me in there.”

  He got it.

  “Want to borrow mine?”

  She snorted.

  “All the time.”

  That made his body react. Chris would like to believe it was because he was tired, but it had everything to do with the woman beside him.

  She could use him all she wanted.

  He’d never say no.

  As they reached the door that said ‘HOMICIDE’, they headed into the bullpen to kick off this fun fest.

  The place around them went silent.

  “I’m looking for O’Brien and Bronson,” she said, scanning the room.

  The two men stood.

  “And you are?”

  “Special Agen
t Elizabeth LaRue, and Doctor Christopher Leonard. We’re the help you requested from the FBI.”

  There were whispers, but nothing she could hear.

  The one detective waved her over. The other simply glared at her like she was the next coming of the devil.

  Yeah, she got that a lot.

  In his defense, it was mostly true.

  “I received the file from my boss. What can you tell me to help a girl out?” she asked, pulling out her phone to make notes in it.

  God!

  She loved that technology was advancing.

  No more notepad in her pocket.

  “They were all killed,” said Detective O’Brien. “There you go. Have fun,” he said, grabbing his suit jacket. “The boss said to meet with the FBI. I did, Now, I’m taking off,” he said to his partner. “I’ll work on our other cases. Have fun with Agent Titaroo.”

  “Uh, LaRue,” she stated. “In my world, we don’t name our breasts.”

  The remaining detective laughed at her comment.

  The other man walked away, muttering something about Elizabeth.

  She didn’t catch it, but clearly, Chris did.

  “Asshole,” he stated.

  The other detective laughed even more.

  “He’s angry, and, yes, he’s an asshole more times than not. Have a seat,” he said, offering up the one seat to Elizabeth.

  It was clear she was going to be dealing with this one and not the other.

  Chris pulled out the chair for her.

  It made her heart skip. No one, other than her father, had ever done that. It was special to her.

  “Are you bailing too?” she asked, “Detective….?”

  “I’m Max Bronson. As for bailing, for tonight, yes. I promised my ex-girlfriend I’d pick our son up, but I’ll be helping tomorrow. I had this planned a while before the whole killing started, and I can’t change it. Do you have kids?”

  She laughed at the mere idea that she’d push babies out of her body.

  Uh.

  Never.

  “No. I don’t have time for a goldfish. Being an agent is time-consuming. Being a parent would be damn near impossible for me.”

  The detective got that.

  It was hard.

  “I’ll be honest with you. I’m not thrilled the FBI is involved, but I get it. We’re hitting blocks, and we need your help.”

  “Like what kind of blocks?”

  “Michael O’Banion.”

  Chris tensed.

  That was the name he feared the most.

  “I’m not worried about him and his antics. Tell me what you’ve gotten so far that’s not in the report I received. It’s looking a little thin.”

  “We started questioning, and we keep hitting him and his men. He runs this city with an iron fist. He’s the Irish mob here. If you want to mess with someone bad, he’s your guy. That’s why we had to call you in. We can’t get around him. He owns the media here too.”

  Again, she pointed out the obvious.

  “I’m not worried.”

  Max stared at her.

  “Oh, you should be. You were on his radar the second you walked into this building. He’s got eyes and ears everywhere around us.”

  “But this is a police precinct,” Chris stated.

  The man laughed even more.

  “Yeah, and I’ll say a third of the cops here are on his payroll. Internal Affairs can’t handle that fast enough. They tag one, two more show up. We have to protect and serve, and pray we don’t get shot in the back by a dirty cop.”

  “And you?” she asked.

  “I don’t take money to be crooked and neither does my partner. We fly straight like an arrow.”

  Chris was going to tell him that arrows actually didn’t fly straight. They had a bowed trajectory, but he didn’t think Elizabeth wanted him to go there.

  In fact, she gave him a look.

  He nearly laughed.

  God!

  She knew him so well.

  “Okay, so that being said, the mob is getting involved. Why?” she asked.

  “They run this area. The police…we are a nuisance. Right now, I have five homicide cases on my desk, and all of them were likely a hit on someone. The only ones that I don’t suspect are tied to the mob are those women. Still, they are going to make you jump through hoops.”

  She didn’t mind hoops.

  Elizabeth would do the job.

  “Where do I find Michael O’Banion?” she asked. “Is there a place he hangs out?”

  Was she serious?

  Did she have a death wish?

  He laughed AT her.

  “You don’t ‘find’ him. He’ll find you, and he likely will. You’re going to be fascinating to him. You’re pretty, young, and…” He motioned toward her body. “You’ll be right up his alley.”

  Chris tensed.

  Yeah, he didn’t like this case at all. What the hell was Gabriel Rothschild thinking?

  But of course, some mob man was going to be attracted to Elizabeth. She was sex in a pair of boots.

  “Well, I’ve managed to avoid getting abducted by a mob boss for the last few years. I think I’ll be okay—but thank you for your concern.”

  “Well, tomorrow, we’ll start hitting the streets. For tonight, until you have a cop escort, I suggest you stay off the grid.”

  That did NOT work for her.

  “I am going to canvas the first victim’s neighborhood to see what pops.”

  “I wouldn’t. You’ll be rolled away with a bullet in your skull.”

  She thought about it.

  While she wasn’t afraid for herself, she was afraid for the man beside her.

  Chris was with her.

  She wanted to do her job, but that would mean risking him too.

  “What do you know about Doctor Julliard?” she asked, trying to find a place to stash him so she could go out and do her damn job.

  This was why you shouldn’t date the people you worked with. It tangled everything up.

  He rolled his eyes.

  That told her everything she needed to know about the woman in question.

  “Well, that she likes to violate the personal space of every single man she meets,” he offered. “I’ve had my ass grabbed a few times by her.”

  “Why didn’t you complain?” Chris asked.

  He rubbed his fingers together to symbolize money.

  Elizabeth got it.

  “She’s on the take?”

  He shrugged, not saying a single word. That spoke louder than anything. This cop suspected someone around him was on the take.

  Well, she couldn’t stick Chris there. That would be a mess that she didn’t have time for tonight.

  Boston was one hell of a shit mess. This greatly diminished her choices for the night. It was go and risk Chris or stay and he’d be safe.

  Well, her choice was made for her.

  “Stay in,” Max suggested. “It’s in your best interest to be careful.”

  She got it.

  They were done.

  “Okay.”

  Already, Boston was letting her down.

  “We need to grab dinner tonight. Anywhere that a girl can get something to eat and maybe take in the scenery?” she asked.

  Max knew what she wanted. This woman was tenacious.

  Clueless.

  But tenacious.

  He weighed his options.

  “There’s a pub around the block. It’s called ‘McCory’s’. They have cold beer, good burgers, and the place is interesting. You might find some ‘scenery’.”

  “Like mob interesting?” she asked, making Chris even more nervous.

  “Yes. Don’t go alone.”

  “She won’t be,” Chris offered. “It’s not happening. I’ll be there with her.”

  The man handed her his file.

  “I’d read it in the comfort of your hotel room. Where are you staying?”

  She gave him the name.

  “I’ll
pick you up at eight tomorrow.”

  “Meet me at the police station,” she said. “You can pick me up there. Chris will drop me off.”

  “Is he your chauffeur?”

  “No, he’s my ME. I didn’t call him doctor at our introduction for shits and giggles. He’s taking over for Doctor Julliard.”

  The man looked at him.

  Then began laughing his ass off.

  “This pretty boy is your medical examiner?” he asked, finding something amusing.

  “Uh, again, yes.”

  “Wear a chastity belt.”

  Chris looked insulted. There was no way he’d screw around. He had a goal, and her name was Elizabeth.

  “I think I can keep my dick in my pants. I don’t think I need a chastity belt.”

  “I meant it more for your protection. Doctor Julliard is a man-eater. She is like that shark who smells chum in the water. One sniff of fresh meat…?”

  “Then I’ll have to remove her teeth,” Elizabeth said, getting irritated.

  If that woman tried to take a bite out of Chris…

  She’d what?

  He wasn’t hers, and that was his choice. They’d both agreed to see whomever they wanted. They had a sexual relationship, not an emotional one.

  Well, fuckity fuck fuck.

  This sucked.

  The detective found them both too damn funny.

  “Again, many have tried, but she was placed there as the doctor, so good luck getting it handled. I was told to ignore it. I now send my partner down there instead. He doesn’t mind getting his man bits fondled. I do.”

  Chris didn’t blame him.

  He wouldn’t like it either.

  “So, do you promise to head out with me tomorrow?” Elizabeth asked.

  “Yep. We can interview the neighbors, again, and we can even head to the university. The professor had some issues you might find interesting.”

  “Like?”

  “One of the other professors was involved with her, and he didn’t mind the world knowing it. A teaching assistant pointed me in his direction. I’ve yet to talk to him.”

  “I want to interview the teaching assistant again too. I like to cover my bases when I’m given a case. I hope you don’t mind,” she stated.

  He wasn’t surprised.

  Max was the same way.

  “Then we can head to the bank, which will be useless, but I know you Feds.”

  “Why will it be useless?”