Yeah, they were out of their minds.
As she arrived home, there was barking and growling the second she hit the front door. It reassured her that the dogs were doing their job.
Once Sungila saw that it was her, the barking turned into spinning and tail chasing. Elizabeth suspected Cyra Leonard trained them to do that to amuse the kids.
Reaching down, she picked up the puppy to tuck him under her arm. From the vacated house, she could see the back door was open and her family was outside.
“Dad,” she called from the doorway. When he turned, she immediately saw the stress etched into his face.
Yeah, something was very wrong.
“Hello, sweetheart,” he said, approaching to give her a kiss on her forehead.
At her voice, all three kids started moving toward her. CJ ran, Cat crawled, and EJ did this weird slide across the ground, almost like an inch worm. Setting the puppy free, Elizabeth began grabbing her kids to hold them in her lap.
“Hello my little baby birds. I’ve missed you,” she crooned, kissing her little man first. He wasn’t happy with the cheek kiss and grabbed her face to lay one on her lips noisily.
Yeah, he definitely carried the Blackhawk/Whitefox DNA.
Next, Cat crawled up into her lap and began calling her ‘momma’. It always squeezed her heart. The child wasn’t hers biologically, but she was definitely her little angel. “Kitty Cat, I missed you so much.”
She sat on her lap sucking on her fingers.
Finally, Wyler grabbed EJ to carry him over. Elizabeth blew raspberries into his neck just to hear him squeal. God, she loved her babies.
“Why are you home?” Wyler asked.
Elizabeth took a few minutes to hold her children to show them how much they meant to her. “We’re heading out on an assignment.”
He didn't look pleased but then again, he might just need a break. “What’s wrong, Dad?” she asked, going for the most direct route. “You can tell me anything.”
He grabbed CJ. “I’ll help you pack. Let’s put the kids in the playroom.”
Following him upstairs, she knew there was something very wrong. Immediately, Elizabeth went with the worst case scenario. Maybe Wyler was sick. After all, he wasn’t a young man anymore. He was a sixty year old watching three kids. It wasn’t that long ago that he had been shot in the heart.
Maybe this was all too much for him.
Once the kids were in the playroom, they put up the gate and headed to her room to pack. Elizabeth’s heart was thudding in her chest the entire time. When they got inside, she turned fast and hugged him. “Please tell me that you’re not sick. I can’t lose you too.”
The emotion was clearly present in her voice.
“Sweetheart! No! I’m as healthy as a horse,” he offered, holding her to his body. “I just need to talk to you about something, and I hate stressing you with things before you go out in the field. I want you to be focused, and this makes me uneasy.”
She stared up into his eyes. Here was the older version of her husband. This would be her Ethan in twenty years.
“What’s wrong, Dad?”
Leading her to the bed, Wyler refused to release her hand. “I need to ask you something, and if you say no, I completely understand.”
A million things rushed through her mind, but before she could start babbling, Wyler took control.
“Is there any way we can replace Bly? I know you offered once before, and I told you no, but I truly believe it’s for the best at this point.”
She touched his cheek. “Dad, what’s happening?”
Elizabeth knew that they had broken off their relationship, all because Wyler wouldn’t marry her. Everyone thought she was taking it personal since he never wanted to get hitched again.
“I know I quit on my kids when they were born, and lost myself in alcohol, so this pains me. I try to make everything work, but this isn't.”
Immediately, she thought he was overwhelmed. Maybe he wanted his retirement years to himself. Here, they kept dumping responsibility after responsibility on him. It was selfish.
“Are you sick of babysitting?”
Now, he looked panicked. “NO! Please don’t take the kids away from me, Lyzee. They’re my heart and soul.”
She didn't understand. “What’s happened, Dad? Help me chase the fear from your eyes. Why are you so upset all of a sudden?”
“Can’t we just leave it as this is all my fault? Working with Bly is uncomfortable.”
She wasn’t buying it. There was something deeper. “I need you to tell me why. I can’t go and fire her because you’re uncomfortable, Dad. If you give me a good reason…”
“She spanked CJ.”
“WHAT?” Elizabeth was up off the bed and heading toward the door. She was seriously going to beat down an old lady. There was a hard and fast rule in their home. No one raised a hand to anyone, and that included their kids. If they couldn’t spank, the housekeeper certainly couldn’t either.
Fortunately for Wyler, he was still fast. He caught her at the door, blocking her way. “Lyzee, please. She’s not here, and I need you to be calm. I know what she did goes against everything you, Ethan, and Callen believe in.”
“Yeah, it really does,” she said, trying to calm down. All she could picture was her precious little CJ getting hit.
It shot her blood pressure through the roof.
“She’s from a different generation, and we didn't raise our kids the same way. I do believe that she needs to go, but I need you to be calm about it. This is why I didn't want to tell you.”
Elizabeth took a deep breath. “Okay, Dad. I’ll talk to Ethan, but he’s going to lose it the second he hears that his son was hit,” she warned.
He was well aware. “I feel like this is all my fault. I screwed this up. I asked you three to hire Bly and here she broke a big rule.”
It wasn’t like Elizabeth was surprised. After Wyler and the woman slept together, it began to unravel. This was a long time coming. “I’ll work on it, but if she touches one of them again, you have the authority to fire her. In fact, I expect you to do it. You know how we feel about slapping children.”
It was something they agreed on due to Callen’s past. His mother thought nothing of beating the hell out of him as a kid or letting a boyfriend do it. When Callen even thought about disciplining one of their children, he always looked sick over it.
For them, there were other ways. She was never hit as a child and for the most part, she turned out fine.
Maybe she was a bad example…
“I understand. I’m really sorry, Lyzee.”
She hugged him. “Don’t worry, Dad. Just keep your eye on the kids. If she touches one of them, she’s gone. I mean it. If you don’t do it, I will. I can promise you that there will be bloodshed too.”
Wyler didn't doubt it.
“You better pack and get going.”
Yeah, he was right. On top of it all, now she needed to tell Ethan that their housekeeper had slapped his son, and that was going to be really, really ugly.
They could kiss Ethan’s hard fought control goodbye for good.
* * *
Callen couldn’t wait until the rest of the team got there to begin working this case. He hated being there alone.
Yeah, he was creeped out.
Here he was, standing in the middle of the woods, completely alone. Wait, that wasn’t exactly true. The four dead bodies were there to keep him company.
Hell, he needed a beer.
This entire thing was very reminiscent of the first time he came across an FBI case while he was chief of reservation police. Back then, he felt like he was being watched, and that weirded out feeling was back once more.
Scanning the trees, he searched for any sign that he was being observed but he didn't see anything.
Yet, his senses and gut instinct told him otherwise.
As he stood there, he suddenly regretted bringing Elizabeth into the center of this. Obviously
, the person doing this was crazy. Who wrapped bodies like mummies and buried them on reservations?
If that wasn’t the definition of lunatic, he wasn’t sure what was. It almost scared him shitless to see what was inside the wrappings. Yeah, he wasn’t looking forward to that little task now either.
Without warning, a hand touched his arm.
Callen jumped, going for his gun.
The Native beside him began laughing. “Dude, you’re all stirred up over nothing, bro. They’re dead. Trust me when I say that they can’t hurt you,” he stated.
Staring at him, Callen wasn’t amused. Bruno Whitefeather was one of the men who dug up the victims. “Yeah, well, I’ve learned a few things in the FBI. There’s one important lesson that no one should forget.”
“What’s that?” Bruno asked, grinning.
“It’s not the dead we need to fear. It’s the living. Someone put them in those holes, and we messed with his burial site.”
The man immediately stopped smiling. “I didn't think of it like that.”
Yeah, unfortunately for Callen, he did.
~ Chapter Two ~
Two Hours Later
Monday Early Afternoon
It didn't take long to get everyone wrangled and onto the jet. Most of them were excited to be heading out. To them, this was like some death ridden field trip, and they loved it. For the most part, they were self-sufficient. It wasn’t like this was their first time at the assignment rodeo. They knew that getting there and containing the scene was going to be a priority.
On the plane, Elizabeth sat by herself, catching up with all the notes and photos that Callen was transmitting to the team. She could tell from the captions on the pictures that her partner was a little off balance.
It wasn’t like she expected anything else. Where she and Ethan had done this countless times before, Callen had yet to run an assignment. They had tried once before, but when push came to shove, Elizabeth needed to handle the situation. You didn't get second chances at finding a killer.
There was no room for errors in the field.
When the seat beside her moved, Elizabeth glanced over. She wasn’t really surprised to see that it was her anthropologist. “Hey, Tony. What can I do for you?”
“I was bored and thought I’d come bother you.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “Bored?”
“Yeah, I usually sit with Chris, but as you can see, he’s abandoned me for a babe.”
Elizabeth patted his hand on the seat. “In his defense, I’ll tell you that when you fall in love, you really can’t help yourself. Give him time to get back to work. You two will be driving me bat shit insane before you know it.”
That cheered him up.
“Why don’t you tell me about your vacation?” she began, hoping to keep his mind busy. They still had forty minutes until they landed, and she needed a distraction too. “Are you hitting a beach?”
“I guess you can say that.”
Elizabeth was confused. “Well, are you?”
“There’s this deserted island out in the middle of the Indian Ocean. I believe there were once inhabitants there. I’m heading out to look for remains and start working on my next paper for the journal.”
She stared at him incredulously. “What? Disney was booked?”
Tony began laughing. “I like doing stuff like that. Besides, everyone knows Disney is actually the mouth of hell.”
Elizabeth stared into his aqua eyes. “Tony, that’s not a vacation. A break from work means doing the opposite of what you normally do. When I go on vacation, I strap on a bikini and get some sexy man to bring me drinks.”
He snorted, recalling that one time in the swamp. “We have pictures of you in a bikini and your men bring you coffee all the time.”
Okay, he had her there.
“Let me rephrase that. You nuts aren’t anywhere near me at the time. The drinks Ethan brings me have drunken fruit in them, and Callen rubs on the sunblock. You and I both know you’re missing the point on this one. You need to take time off to decompress and stop thinking.”
“On your last vacation, you worked a case,” he pointed out.
Yeah, he had her again.
“Okay, point taken. So, you’re going to the island to look for remains. Then what?”
“Then home to watch TV. Chris isn't home, so I can’t go hang out with him. I don’t really have a lot of friends. I’m kind of an academic nut. I tend to get lost in my work.”
“You really miss him, huh?”
He nodded. “It sucks. I know he’s got a spiffy new wife now, but I feel like I’ve lost my best friend.”
She sympathized.
“Can I ask you a question, Lyzee?” He lowered his voice and looked around. “Am I really missing anything? I watch you with your men and you look happy. Christina bailed on us to be with some guy, and now Chris, Mr. Bachelor, has found someone too. Am I crazy for being happy alone?”
She had never had a conversation like this with him before. Generally, Tony Magnus was silly, a jokester, and a bone guy to the core. “Do you want me to be honest?”
He nodded, almost like a little kid. “Yes, please.”
“Yeah, you are. When you find that one, it’s going to take your breath away. You’ll want to be with them all the time. If you’re apart, it’ll hurt. Life will change around you for the best.”
Tony thought about it. “What if I never find her?”
She patted his cheek like a mother would. “You will, grasshopper. You just have to keep your eyes open and wait for cupid to shoot you in the ass with an arrow.”
He found that funny. “That sounds painful. I guess I should start putting myself out there. Who wouldn’t want a man who digs around with bones and bugs all day?”
The tone in his voice said it all. Now, Elizabeth got it. Someone had kicked his heart around once before. It was clearly written on his face.
“A lot of women. You’re a catch, Dr. Magnus. You’re funny and smart. Trust me. Women like that in a man. I’m telling you that Cupid will strike when you least expect it. I didn't think I’d be marrying Ethan after four days, and I certainly didn't think I’d be shacking up with Callen. Life has a way of catching you off guard. You’ll find someone who is intrigued with your bones and bugs. Then, you’ll be golden.”
“You’re good at this mothering thing.”
She laughed. “Thank you, I think.”
“Speaking of which, how’s baby number four?”
Elizabeth laid her hand protectively over the child growing in her womb. “Charlie is doing well.”
He rubbed his hands together. “I can’t believe you told me the name. You know the techs are dying for any gossip.”
Leaning back in the seat, she glanced over at him. “I’m not worried. You won’t say anything.”
That caught him off guard. “I won’t?”
“Nope.”
“How do you know that?” he challenged.
She grinned at him. “Because you’re my friend, and I shared something personal with you. We’ve been buddies for a long time, and you don’t betray the people you care about.”
He hated when she did that. “You are like a mother. You suck the fun out of everything.”
That made her laugh. “Yeah, so I’ve been told.”
* * *
Callen finally got some other living, breathing people on the scene. Chief Molala sent a few of the Native police to keep him company until his team arrived. Officer Brewster was currently trying to offer him a cigarette, and the story of his latest sexual conquest.
Neither of which he was in the mood for.
Yeah, this was the longest day ever.
Just as he was about to go bang his head off a tree, a cheerful yellow Jeep could be seen through the trees. Out popped a tiny, little sprite of a woman with bright red hair. Callen watched her navigate the thicket to reach him.
“Are you Director Callen Whitefox?” she called, heading his way.
&nbs
p; Holding out his hand, he shook hers warmly. “I’m going to assume you’re the anthropologist out of Quantico?”
She smiled brightly. “Yes! I’m Doctor Jaxon Armstrong, but you can just call me Jax. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Director.”
Callen was thrilled to have anyone who wasn’t a local by his side. At least he’d have some normalcy at this point. It wasn’t easy to keep the Natives from getting restless. It was getting harder and harder to keep them from poking at the mummies. Everyone was getting antsy with the bodies.
Then again, he couldn’t really blame them.
“I’m ready to see the remains,” she said, dropping one of her latex gloves.
Immediately, Officer Brewster was at her side getting it. “Here, ma’am,” he offered, staring at her like a ravenous forest animal.
Callen gave him a look.
If she noticed his lecherous stares, she didn't comment. “Thank you, officer. I appreciate it.”
The man was practically salivating over the pretty doctor.
Callen could see the wagons circling. The Native man was about to play ‘catch an outsider’. Well hell! Now, he had to babysit this mess too.
‘Hurry up, Lyzee,’ he prayed.
The little woman rushed past Callen and to the first hole. When she dropped down to her knees to reach for the first body, Callen nearly had a stroke.
“STOP!” he blurted, causing everyone there to jump.
Her hand paused mid-air. “What? Are they booby trapped?” she asked, staring up at him with wide blue eyes. “Did I set off some trap?”
He stared at her like she was nutty. “No, you can’t touch the bodies until an ME gets here. That’s standard FBI procedure. Is today your first day?” he asked.
She stared up at him as she did the mental math. “Of course it’s not.” Ticking the days off her fingers, she finally answered, “It’s my fourth.”
Callen prayed she was kidding. “Tell me that you’re shitting me.”
Jax got up from the ground, unsure what the problem was. This wasn’t the first set of remains she’d seen in her life. In fact, there were so many that she’d lost count.
Redemption is Here (An FBI/Romance Thriller Book 9) Page 5
