“Not to point out the obvious, Maura, but what about us? You know, as a couple?”
She stared at him. “Lucas.”
“I can’t wait to hear this,” he said. There was no doubt that he looked like a freaking idiot. Here he was, in a cave, holding a tree, and asking about her breaking his heart.
Never had he felt more humiliated and lost.
“I care about you, but I’m a Marine.”
“So, Marines can’t date? That’s odd because I’ve seen a few of those reunion videos online, you know the ones where soldiers come home, and they rush through the airport to propose to their significant others. In fact, I’ve seen a few where they race out on a football field to hug their spouses too. Marines do get married.”
Maura was horrified at the word ‘propose’ and doubly freaked out by the idea of marriage.
“So, are you really going to stand here, after the moments we shared and stick with this convoluted theory that Marines can’t have a life? Before you go with the Fed route, I know plenty of them who marry. In fact, my bosses are happy together. Are we going to be a couple?”
“We can… I mean… I can… Luke!” Maura hissed out, flustered by his firm stand on the topic.
He grinned. Now that she was flustered, he felt a little better. “I want to be with you, and if I have to stand outside your base holding a sign, I will. I’ll even do it in patriotic boxers, saluting you-just not with my hand. I think you get the picture.”
When he pointed down, her horror turned into something far scarier-- love. Maura never had anyone care about her like that in a relationship kind of way. It melted the ice in her heart, giving her a chance at something more.
“Lucas,” she began, only to have him drop a kiss to her forehead before he leapt from the edge, letting the tree carry him toward the rocks. He had his open and honest talk, got to say what he was feeling, and Maura knew his intent.
It was time to keep his word and get out of there.
As he climbed down, Maura didn't know what to say or do.
Finally, she heard his voice from below.
“It’s your turn to jump!”
Luke had reached the ground and was waiting for her. As she made the leap, Maura could barely focus. Here, for the first time in her life, she had something to look forward to in the future.
That had never happened before.
It was… unnerving.
As she climbed down, Maura had to wonder if they could actually pull it off. While in her heart she knew that the Marines would always come first, she prayed Luke might actually be right.
Marines could have lives outside of war and their jobs, right?
There was a chance.
There had to be.
At the bottom, Luke was patiently waiting for her. From the look on her face, the worry lines between her eyes, he knew their talk had done the job. “What’s next?”
She wanted to tell him she felt like throwing up. Instead, she tried to be strong as she kept her composure intact.
“Let’s look for the next possible escape route.”
Luke grinned. He didn't miss that she was distracted. If that’s what it took, he was going for it.
One way or another.
Chapter Fourteen
Thursday Afternoon
Military Base
L ocking down Leroy Walker hadn’t been easy. They spent a few hours running around trying to track him. It was as if the man was purposely dodging them. Now, that couldn’t be possible, could it?
Obviously, someone had given him a heads up.
There was no doubt in Nathaniel Carter’s mind who that someone had been. The captain had ratted them out, giving the man a head start.
For all they knew, other Marines might be trying to help him disappear. Little did he know, it all made him look far more suspicious.
Before giving up their wild goose chase, they paused as Callie’s phone began ringing. When she answered, the men watched her face. After hanging up, she turned to share the call.
“That was Doctor Leonard. The autopsy is done, and he wants to give me all he has.”
“Okay, then, why didn't he?” Nate asked.
“It seems that the Blackhawks want one of us to head in for a face to face debriefing.”
Quinn started laughing for two reasons. The first being that Nate was scared shitless of Elizabeth, and secondly that he had every intention of making Callie do it. This would get her out of the field, if only for one day.
That was a win-win for him.
“Shit.”
Callie held up her hand. “Don’t even try it,” she stated. “I know you’re going to try and pressure me into going. Well, I’m going to make it easy for you. I’ll do it.”
“What?” the men stated.
“It’s less work if I just take one for the team, so I’m going to just go in, handle the situation and come back. If I leave now, I can arrive there, do the deed, and be back later tonight.”
“You can stay overnight,” Quinn offered. “I don’t want you falling asleep behind the wheel.”
She patted his cheek. “I’ll let you know. It’s going to depend on how long I’m there.”
Then it occurred to him. “NOT at home!”
“Big guy, relax. I can crash in my office. I do have that spiffy shrink couch and a change of clothes too.”
Quinn pulled her into his arms to give her a big kiss. He only broke away when a bunch of jogging Marines passed by with hoots and whistles.
“Be safe,” he stated, staring down into her icy blue eyes. “My wife needs to bring herself and our baby back with her.”
She ran the pad of her thumb over his lips. “I think I can manage that, Quinton. You stay out of trouble too.”
That he could do.
After all, how dangerous could a base full of Marines be?
“I’m going to take the Denali. You’re on your own for transport,” she stated, taking the keys from Nate. “Take care of my husband,” she ordered, before dropping a kiss to his cheek.
He started laughing. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll babysit him.”
They waited until she was out of earshot. “You lucked out,” stated Nate. “This was like one hell of a Christmas present for you,” he admitted. “And me.”
“Yeah, I know. Now, if we could pin down Leroy Walker, we’d be in good shape.”
“Let’s hit his bunk house again.”
“Works for me.”
They didn't find him there, but his roommate pointed them in the right direction, only after Nate called the colonel’s private number to have the man bitch him out.
Well, at least someone was trying to be helpful.
Both men headed into the showers attached to the gym. It seemed the man had been laying low there while the Fed and detective chased their tails.
It looked like they were going to get the last laugh after all. When they walked in, showing their badges, the man stared at them from the shower.
“Dudes, I’m naked here.”
“We noticed,” stated Quinn. “Don’t worry though, you don’t have anything that we’re interested in checking out. In fact, we were just saying how big of a dick you were, and it looks like we were very wrong.”
The man flushed red before grabbing his towel and wrapping it around his waist.
“Who told you to avoid us?” Luke asked.
“No one,” he admitted, his body going taut.
It was that tensing of his form that gave it all away. While saying nothing, he’d told the tale. They both suspected Captain Harris had her manicured paws all over this.
“Well, now you need to talk. We can do it now, or I can call for an MP to have you transported to the colonel’s office. He won’t be as amused as you obviously are.”
Once more, it wiped the smirk off his face.
“What do you want?”
“We need to talk about Bravo Ghost,” Nate said, pulling out his phone to make notes.
“Yeah, wel
l good luck with that. It’s classified and you’re not privy to it.”
“Your bosses think otherwise. We already know everything about it, and that’s why the government is having us do the investigation. Do you want to call Colonel Swift for clearance?”
He thought about it.
Quinn pulled out his phone and offered it to the man. “Go ahead.”
It was all he needed. “That’s not necessary. I’ll tell you what I can.”
“Do you know anyone who would want to murder some Marines and go after Major Maura Gaines?” Quinn asked.
“Who wouldn’t want to go after that bitch? She may be one hot piece of ass, but she lacks a lot in her person to person skills, if you know what I mean.”
The man never saw it coming.
Quinn body slammed him to the lockers and stared right into his eyes. “Maybe you didn't pay attention to the introductions,” he began, pulling his badge and holding it close to the man’s face. “You see, her last name is Gaines, and my last name is too. You might even see the family resemblance between me and my sister,” he offered.
“Hey, man! Back off! I didn't mean anything by it. I’m a little bitter that she booted me from the team. I didn't mean to insult your family. I have sisters too! I get it!”
Quinn eased up. “Now, how about you tell us why she kicked you to the curb? Although after talking to you, I’m not the least bit surprised. I would like to remove you from our gender too.”
The man fixed his towel. “She and I had issues.”
“Like?” Nate asked.
“Major Gaines didn't tolerate anything. If you joked around, she’d ride your ass. I may have said something that offended her, and she held a grudge.”
“What did you say?”
“I may, or may not, have alluded to wanting to put my gun in her tight, sexy holster. Repeatedly.”
Quinn wanted to pop his head off his shoulders for even thinking about having sex with his sister, let alone being crass while telling them. “So, you were sexually harassing my sister. That’s fascinating. No wonder she wrote you up. Here, I would have just killed you and hid the body.”
“Hey! You know how guys are around girls. We may slip up and say some inappropriate things,” he admitted.
“Yeah, well not only did you do that, but there are a few other write-ups in that file of yours. Spill it,” Nate said. “Or I can let my partner here kick the shit out of you. He may not be a Marine, but no man is bigger and meaner than when defending his sister’s honor.”
The man blinked. “After that, she rode my ass. I may have complained that she wasn’t a good leader. It got back to her, and she had me removed from her team.”
“So, you undermined her authority. Is that what you’re saying?” Nate asked.
“Hey, I’m damn good at my job! So what if a woman doesn’t see past the comments to know what she kicked off her squad.”
“Yeah, this is all her fault,” stated Quinn.
“This is the Marines. Men are going to be men.”
“When’s the last time you had contact, Sergeant Walker?” Nate asked. He needed to get a timeline of this man’s life, before Quinn beat the hell out of him. At this rate, it was going to be any second.
“I didn't have any contact. We live on base, they live off. Our paths don’t cross. We remove people from bad situations, and so far to date, Bravo Ghost hasn’t needed us to extract. Maura and her team are good at what they do. In fact, I was once part of that.”
They heard the bitterness in his voice.
“So, you never see anyone? No accidentally crossing each other’s paths?”
He started laughing. “Dude, we’re ghosts. We get paid to not be seen. We don’t accidentally pop up at the town fair eating corndogs and deep-fried Twinkies.”
“I have one big issue,” said Quinn, leaning against a set of lockers. “You hated working for women, but yet you are again. How did that happen?”
“Captain Harris saw quality. She knows that I am an asset, so she scooped me up.”
“She came to you?”
“The ink was barely dry on my dismissal papers.”
Quinn wanted to point out that not everything scooped up was quality. He had a dog and his mutt made him shovel plenty of shit back home.
“How was the team’s stress level before you were removed?” Nate inquired.
“We all have stress. This is a dangerous job. You walk around with a target on your back all the time. You have no idea what that’s like.”
They disagreed. As cops and Feds, they were well aware of the dangers.
“Did anyone discuss personal issues? Did anyone talk about fights with significant others, overdue bills, or anything else that might cause conflict on the job?” Quinn asked.
“There was some chitchat. I’d heard a few of the men talking about women and stress, but once you are in the field, no one says a word. If you want more personal, you’re going to have to talk to their roommates and families. I was just on the team. I didn't dig into anyone’s life. I had my own babe issues to deal with.”
They didn't ask more.
In fact, knowing the man in front of them, they probably were better off not having a peek into his life. It just seemed logical to leave it at that.
“Are we done? I need to get dressed. I have a dinner date tonight. I don’t have time to be hanging out with two men. I don’t know what you heard, but you boys aren’t my type.”
With that, he grabbed his clothes and walked away.
“What did he mean by that?” Quinn asked. “I hope he didn't think I was interested in him. I’m at least married,” he teased his brother-in-law.
Nate looked over. “Zip it, Quinn, or I’m calling my momma to tell her that you and Callie didn't tell her you were expecting.”
The fear rushed his face. His mother-in-law was a scary woman if you pissed her off. “You wouldn’t.”
He laughed. “Yeah, I would. It’ll get her off my back about not being in a relationship. Now, let’s figure out what we’re doing next.”
“What do you have in mind?”
Nate pondered it. “I think we need to start digging into the dead victims’ lives. If this has nothing to do with Oracle, then we have a dead end. There has to be something there. Maybe another part of their lives intersected somehow.”
“Maybe they were in Fight Club,” he teased.
Nate punched him. “You know the rules, Quinn. You don’t talk about Fight Club outside of Fight Club.”
“You're insane,” he replied, dropping his sunglasses onto his face.
“Tell me about it. I’m actually looking forward to talking to our friend Sergeant Hartford. I’m downright certifiable.”
* * * C a r t e r C h r o n i c l e s * * *
Later Thursday Afternoon
Callie finally arrived at FBI West. Heading into the building, she knew that she couldn’t brief the bosses if there wasn’t a meeting with the ME first.
So, that was her first priority.
Once in the lab, Callie noticed that it must be close to shift change or dinner. It was quiet, except for Doctor Chris Leonard standing next to a metal table signing some paperwork.
When the door closed behind her, he glanced up.
“Welcome, Doctor Carter. It’s nice to see you again,” he offered, shaking her hand. After being injured on the job, the woman before him had given Chris his psych evaluation to clear him for work. She was a genuinely nice lady, especially since he knew what she’d done for the Blackhawks.
“It is, Doctor. How was your honeymoon?”
He grinned at the mere mention of it. Since getting hitched, his wife had become the center of his world. “Amazing. Cyra and I had a really good time. I can’t believe how fast it flew by. It was like days instead of a couple of weeks.”
“I’m happy to hear that. How’s her pregnancy going?”
Chris started laughing. “Oh, it’s something all right. One minute she’s hungry, the next Cyra
is tired, and then she’s something totally different. I can’t keep up. That’s saying a lot since I’m used to being bossed around by Elizabeth.”
She laughed. Yeah, Callie knew how that felt. Baby hormones were one hell of a rollercoaster, as was their boss.
“You’ll figure it out,” she offered. Callie recalled the chaos that her husband lived through with their first pregnancy. Now, it was about to begin again.
“I hope so. I know you didn't come all the way back here to ask me about my honeymoon, so how about we go into my office and talk? It’s quiet in there since Tony Magnus is away on his dig.”
She followed him in, noticing he was limping a little. “How’s your leg?”
“When I’m on it all day, it gets a little sore,” he offered, taking a seat on the couch in there. On his lap was the pile of files. “I guess it’s a good thing that I don’t work in the field as an agent. I don’t think I would have qualified to be reinstated.”
She’d seen lots of agents lose their jobs from similar injuries. “Yes, that is a good thing. I know you’re Elizabeth’s go to guy.”
He snorted. “A curse and blessing all in one. Okay, where do you want to begin?” he asked.
“We need to determine if the killer is indeed the same with all the victims.”
Chris flipped through the papers and found the information needed. “The most recent was struck on the back of the skull. It caused massive cranial hemorrhaging. Basically, he slowly bled to death.”
“What about the fire?” she asked.
“He was definitely alive during it. There were massive amounts of smoke in his lungs. From what our team figured out, he was struck and then laid there until he succumbed to smoke inhalation.”
“So, that’s his COD?”
“Yep.”
“Are we sure he didn't just slip and fall?”
Chris pulled out the pictures of the bathroom. “From the way the body landed, he couldn’t have slipped on a bar of soap and hit the back of his head. He was face down. The body would have been found in a different position.”
She understood. “Someone came up behind him and made sure he wasn’t going to be getting up.”
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