He was glad.
“Marshal Rakin,” he said, into the phone.
“This is Director Miles Lane out of FBI West. Is this the man in charge of the Lottie Tipton case?” he asked.
“Yeah, what’s going on?” he asked, as Sarah stared at him from across the desk.
Her look mimicked his.
Confusion.
“She’s surfaced, and she called out Elizabeth Blackhawk. I’ve sent a message into the DC office, but she’s out on the injured list, and the Deputy Director just went on vacation.”
He couldn’t believe it.
Could this actually be happening? Was the FBI, in Elizabeth’s absence, dropping Bonnie right into his lap?
He was going to start celebrating.
“So, let me get this straight. I’m getting this case?” he asked.
“Not quite. You’re on the notify list in the Lottie Tipton file. First, it was Elizabeth Blackhawk, then Deputy Director Blackhawk, and then you. All this means is you’re being asked to verify that it’s Bonnie’s MO, and if it is, you’re to call Director Gabe Rothschild and report in. He’s back from sabbatical, and you get to handle it up to that point.”
He got it.
Why bother Elizabeth and Ethan if it was a copycat?
“I totally get it. Where is the victim?” he asked.
“Here in Damascus. Can you get here tonight? I really need this handled and filtered to the boss if it’s going down here. The file is tagged for Elizabeth Blackhawk’s eyes only.”
Yeah, he knew why.
This was a grudge match and the FBI was going to let their big, mean dog handle the issue.
That totally sounded like something up Elizabeth’s alley.
“Sir, I’ll clear it with my boss, and my partner and I will be on the first plane to Damascus.”
“Our ME is getting started. Doctor Legend will have the body handled for you. The scene is locked down until you arrive. Our forensic team is available to you if needed.”
“We appreciate it, sir. We’ll be there on the first jet out of DC,” he promised.
“See you then, Marshal Rakin. Safe flight.”
Director Miles Lane hung up.
Dakota grinned at his partner in disbelief. This couldn’t he happening.
They might have Bonnie.
Ethan Blackhawk was out of the office.
And Elizabeth was on the injured list.
That left him.
This was a freaking miracle! He might be getting this case after all. He could feel the payback coming on the horizon.
Bonnie was going to pay for his partner’s death.
“What’s going on?” Sarah asked when he hung up. Her partner was smiling like the Cheshire Cat. That was totally unlike him.
“We have a viable lead. The FBI thinks Bonnie has surfaced outside of Damascus.”
His partner was thrilled.
“The boss is in his office. We should tell him and get on that flight!”
Yeah, he was thinking the same thing.
Dakota loved that Sarah was just as excited as he was to get something on this case. It meant she was into the job as much as he was, and that mattered in a partner. When her probation was over, he was going to try and get her as a permanent partner.
If he could stop sleeping with her.
“Yeah, let’s give him the good news.”
They both headed across the bullpen right to Marcus’s office.
“Sir?” he called, knocking on the door.
“Yes?”
“FBI West called. Bonnie re-surfaced. They think she’s out of the hole. We need clearance to go.”
He stared at him. “Where is the FBI in all of this?” he asked, rubbing his coffee colored hands together. “Since when does the FBI call one of my US Marshals to call them out?”
Dakota told him what Director Lane had shared about the Blackhawks.
“I’m last on the list to assess the situation. If it’s not her, the case will likely be handed over to some agent or the local authorities.”
He was okay with that.
“Can we get out there?” he asked.
The man weighed their options.
Dakota held his breath.
“You can go, but if this IS Bonnie, you are NOT to handle this alone. You do what the director said and contact the FBI to go in. This is their jurisdiction if there are bodies involved, Dakota. I know you want to get justice for Debra, but we have protocols. We aren’t hunting a fugitive if there is an active crime scene.”
“But, boss…”
He cut him off. “I am not going to do the dance with Ethan freaking Blackhawk so you can run around playing cowboy and crazy. Do you hear me? She may be on our fugitive list, but if she’s playing ‘kiss me-fuck me’ with Elizabeth Blackhawk, we are NOT getting between that. We have to give the Director the wiggle room without getting in her damn way.”
He didn’t look happy.
“Am I clear?”
“Can we assist?” he asked. “You know, since we technically have jurisdiction.”
He leaned forward. “I am not getting on the wrong side of Gabe Rothschild either. He’s back to work, and he’s running it like he stole it. No, son. Just no. You are not to shove yourself into this case on some hillbilly technicality that you pulled out of your ass. If there is a body, and the FBI can tie it to an ongoing serial killer case, its theirs. If this is just Bonnie being seen out in the open, that’s a different story—then she’s ours. We hunt the fugitives. We don’t hunt ongoing suspects in an active case.”
Dakota opened his mouth.
“Zip it. You go, you evaluate, and you then report to the FBI. If Elizabeth is taking this on, you ask nicely if she needs assistance. If she doesn’t, you come back here and we wait until proper channels in the Justice Department ask for our assistance.”
“Sir! We’re the US Marshals. We are the ones who hunt fugitives.”
He stood. “We take search warrants issued by a judge to bring in a suspect. Elizabeth Blackhawk’s division hunts the serial killers. There’s a fine line. If you cross it…”
“What?”
He glanced over at Sarah Valley. “Out.”
She obeyed without batting an eyelash.
Then he focused on his man in front of him. “Son, the upper bosses are not thrilled with you. You’ve been breaking the rules left and right, your other cases are slipping, and you’re freaking obsessed with Bonnie.”
“Well, she’s a pain in my ass. We have to stop her one way or another.”
“At what cost, Dakota? The cost of your job? The last time she got away, heads were about to roll. We’ve invested millions on this one woman, and she’s not even close to the caliber of bad guys we chase.”
He got it.
He didn’t have to like it.
“Let me do my job,” he stated. “I will bring her in if I can get a lead on her.”
He shook his head.
The man got it.
That wasn’t the right answer.
“I will bring her in if Elizabeth will play nice?” he asked, trying again.
Yeah, that was a slim chance in hell. Dakota knew her husband did NOT like him.
At all.
Ethan Blackhawk wouldn’t save him if he were drowning in a sea of sharks, let alone allow his wife have him help work a case.
You kiss a woman one time after she’s married and you make an enemy for life…
Geez.
It was time to wake up and smell the coffee. He had to face the cold, hard facts.
He was off this case.
He could see it.
“Go do what you have to do. Verify, report, and ask if you can assist. If they say no, the other cases on your desk need your attention. You have two drug dealers and a child rapist. Prioritize your workload or the big bosses are going to drop the ax, and it’s going to land on you,” Marcus stated.
“Fine.”
He pointed at him. “I mean it. Don’
t you dare fuck with the Blackhawks. Deputy Director Blackhawk will not play games when it comes to this. He’s taken a tough stance on interdepartmental cooperation.”
“Okay!”
“Go.”
Dakota headed out, and his partner was waiting at their desks.
“Are we a go?” she asked hopefully. “Did the boss clear us to head in and take down Bonnie?”
Oh, he wished it was that simple. Instead of telling her all the details, he went with the basic.
“Yes.”
“That’s awesome!”
He grabbed his gun from his desk. “Yeah, I know. Let’s go see if this bitch is back.”
“Then?” Sarah asked.
“Then we make her life a living hell.”
And he really would.
* * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *
Salem
Tuesday Noon
When Elizabeth and Ethan got out of the shower, there was chaos going on downstairs.
Still…
They took a few moments to spend that private time together.
They made out in the closet.
On the bed.
Even in the hallway.
Ethan couldn’t get enough of his wife. Now that he finally had her back, he was going to ensure that she was well aware that he was madly, deeply, and crazily in love with her.
Blackhawk didn’t want a day to go by where she didn’t know what he felt for her. The last year he’d been a slacker, but that was definitely over.
“I love you,” he said, running his mouth over the side of her throat. As she was pressed to his body, there was that familiar lust and calm that he’d come to miss.
His life was back.
It was as if someone flipped the switch and turned him back on. No more was there that big black hole.
He had his wife.
“I love you, too, Cowboy.”
He laughed.
Elizabeth couldn’t help but think how ridiculously handsome he was—even with the little bit of gray strands and the worry lines that had become permanently etched around his eyes.
He was still Ethan.
Here was her proof.
“What do you want to do?” she asked, running her hands up and down his torso while beneath his shirt.
The feel of his flesh against hers was cathartic.
“I want to stay in bed with my wife until the end of my days on the Earth. Then I want to wait for her to join me on the other side.”
She kissed him.
“Ghosts,” he whispered.
Elizabeth pulled away. “What?”
“Callen told me to ask you about the ghosts.”
Her body changed. It was subtle, but he could still feel it happen. Ethan was tuned in, and he didn’t miss it.
“Oh.”
“Want to share?”
She wasn’t sure what to think about the whole spooky interlude in Delta Falls.
Was it real?
Was it all in her imagination?
She wasn’t sure.
“When I went to help Tori, I found something disturbing out. I mean, not really disturbing as in upsetting, but more…it creeped me out.”
He tucked a strand of wet hair behind her ear. “Okay, what?”
“She’s a medium.”
He didn’t look surprised.
“Why aren’t you gasping in horror?” she asked. “You knew?”
“I talk to Julian a lot. For a while, he was stressed out with Tori’s gift. He needed to vent, and he called me. We had a long conversation.”
“Oh.”
“You’re thinking, ‘Why didn’t he tell me’?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Guy Friend Code.”
She stared at him.
Ethan waited for her to get upset. Instead, he was pleasantly surprised that she laughed.
“Duly noted that there is a new club in town, and chicks aren’t invited.”
He relaxed.
“Anyway, he told me he was freaked out, broke it all down, and he felt better. Sometimes, you just need to talk it out to a friend. I know that worked for me with Callista.”
She got it.
“So what happened?”
“She channeled Timothy. He told me to forgive you and to be ready for Bonnie. He said she was coming.”
He looked upset.
“What’s wrong?”
“I wish I could have spoken to him. That’s all. I miss Granddad so much.”
That she understood.
“I miss him too.”
“What else happened?” Ethan asked, as she leaned against his body. He was propped against the wall, her between his legs. He missed them doing this.
“My mother came through.”
“Oh,” he said, his eyes going large, “and how was that experience?”
She shrugged.
“No walls, Elizabeth. We need to be open.”
“She died because of me. I wouldn’t wear my uniform, and she turned the car around to teach me a lesson.”
And one hell of a lesson it turned out to be. She’d been killed by a drunk driver hitting them head on.
Ethan lifted her chin. On her lashes were tears.
“Oh, baby,” he whispered, wrapping his arms around her. While he knew about the accident, Elizabeth had never spoken about what had happened that day.
She carried it alone.
Valiantly.
“That’s how I know this is real. No one knew that. I never even told Charlie that she told me to wear my uniform under my hoodie, but I didn’t. I refused to wear the pink, and she was fed up with my stubbornness.”
He kissed her on the freckled nose. “I happen to love that stubborn streak. Our kids have it. The teenage years are going to be long and painful.”
She laughed.
“Feel better?” he asked.
Elizabeth cuddled against him. His arms were still around her body, and she was tucked beneath his chin.
“Yeah, I do. I could stay here for months.”
Yeah, him too.
Only, their kids had other ideas. They could hear their tribe running amuck.
It made him smile.
This was what he missed. Coming home to a house filled with silence had been soul crushing. Now he could live again. With his family, he was alive.
“They are stirred up,” Ethan stated.
She kissed him on the lips. “The energy is less stagnant here. I think they can feel it. Plus, they have the dogs. Who doesn’t love two big furry horses?” she teased.
He raised his hand, only to have her pinch him.
“So damn mean,” he muttered, kissing her again. It was deep, it was warm, and it gave him such contentment.
They stayed like that until there was a crash downstairs.
Ethan couldn’t wait to surprise them. For weeks, Callen told him how much their kids had missed him. Today, they were getting the gift of him. Ethan had every intention of being in the present. Their kids deserved that.
Slowly, his wife set his mouth free.
“You look happy.”
Ethan could barely contain his joy. He was so damn excited to hold his kids. He’d missed them so much. Yes, he saw them every night when he’d read to them, but holding them?
God!
He missed those sticky kisses and the way they looked at him like he mattered. He was a rock star to them, and he hoped they always saw him in that light.
“I missed them so much.”
That told her everything. He was in the present like they all deserved.
“Are you ready?” she asked. “They are going to lose it the second they see you. Charlie has been talking about you for weeks. She misses you.”
Yeah, he was ready.
“Bring on my little ones. I can’t wait to kiss their faces off,” he admitted.
“Sweet, but horrifying,” she teased.
He grinned as he took her hand. That connection to her gave him so much j
oy. This was something else he’d missed and taken for granted. All those weeks of not allowing any public displays of affection had been stupid.
When it was gone, he’d suffered.
Now it was back, and he’d never cringe from his wife’s touch in public.
Hell!
She could jump him on the President’s freaking desk, and he wouldn’t care. That single, skin-against-skin, feeling was worth dying to him.
“Let’s go,” she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek.
Following Elizabeth down the stairs, Ethan didn’t say a word. He wanted to surprise them. When his wife whistled, all the kids looked her way.
“Look who I found hiding in mommy’s closet,” she stated. “I think you might want to see him.”
He stepped around her to let them see him.
It was the reaction he craved.
The kids squealed as they raced toward Ethan. He barely had time to get down before his boy, CJ, and Callen’s son, EJ, took him to the floor in one hell of a tackle.
They’d gotten so damn big!
“CJ, EJ, what’s mommy feeding you?” he said, as they rolled around, giving them kisses on their tan Native cheeks.
“Cookies!” they shouted, holding onto Ethan with all their might.
Ethan saw her. “Kitty Cat!”
Cat didn’t hesitate to go to him. The smile on her face was infectious.
She was getting more and more beautiful by the day. She was going to be a stunner, and Callen was going to have his hands full keeping the boys far away.
With a giggle, she jumped on him, landing right on his body. Fortunately, she missed his junk.
Callen cringed.
“I’m good,” he said, holding onto her. “Kitty Cat, I missed you, baby!”
She cuddled him and left big wet kisses all over his face.
“Daddy!” They shouted.
Charlie raced toward him and pounced too.
“There’s my other girl. I hear you missed me.”
“Yes, Daddy,” she said, grabbing a hold of a handful of his hair so she could hang on for dear life and not be pushed off by her siblings.
It was a giant pile.
And he loved it.
God!
It was the most amazing thing in the whole world, and he’d been a fool to not want this every single day.
Fuck power and prestige.
Revenge has Come (An FBI/Romance Thriller Book 19) Page 9
