Their banter was normal. He knew Chris and Tony were only trying to lighten the mood. That was how they dealt with the stress.
“You put your hands on our wife?” he asked.
Chris tried to save the man’s ass, and from the look of worry on Elizabeth’s face, she was worried Ethan would lose it.
“Don’t worry, boss! She took it easy on him. She could have bashed his teeth out on the table if she wanted to make him bleed.”
Callen went to move toward him.
“Don’t,” Ethan warned. “I’ll handle this.”
Uh oh.
“Elizabeth, let him up.”
She set him free. Callen immediately went to her side to emotionally support her if Ethan lost it.
When Dakota was standing up, he focused on him. “You’re done being aggressive, aren’t you? I’m sure that you’ve learned a lesson. If you do that again, you’re gone.”
EVERYONE stared at him.
Did Ethan Blackhawk mellow that much that he didn’t put his hands on the man in anger?
She was speechless.
At the airport…
Something was up. She could smell it in the air, and it stunk. She’d get to the bottom of it.
“Dakota, I spoke to your boss.”
That said it all.
Ethan was going to let Dakota’s boss handle the dirty work. Then there’d be less paperwork.
That had to be it.
“What did he say?” he asked, rubbing his hand.
“You’re in.”
Elizabeth’s mouth dropped open.
“WHAT?”
Her husband stared at her. “I need to see you alone in the office. We’ll discuss it in there. This is a private conversation.”
Callen cracked his knuckles.
“I need you, Cal, to get him caught up to speed about the crime scene and what happened across the street.”
Dakota retrieved his gun from a stunned Elizabeth. “What do you mean what happened across the street?”
“Bonnie was there, and she was watching Elizabeth as we arrived. The reason we weren’t there was it wasn’t safe for her to be there. The last time one of us was on a scene with a peeping crazy, Callen was shot and nearly died.”
He felt badly about his behavior.
Had he known…?
“I didn’t know. I’m sorry, Elizabeth.”
Ethan was only calm because of that reason, and that reason alone.
Oh, and because they needed him.
He continued, “Yes, I know. That’s the ONLY reason you’re still here. Callen, update him. Elizabeth, in the office please.”
She followed him in.
When she closed the door, she stared at him.
“WHO ARE YOU?”
He laughed. “It’s me. Don’t be a smart ass.”
She moved toward him to check his pulse. “Are you a pod person?”
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. His mouth devoured hers, sucking her under the pleasure of the moment. It was wild, heated, and he needed her.
He always would.
She brought this out in him—especially when she manhandled someone. He wasn’t going to pretend.
It turned him on.
When Ethan finally set her free, he was chewing her gum and grinning wickedly.
“That doesn’t actually tell me you’re Ethan. He doesn’t make out at work. I’m still all kinds of confused over this. I think you should explain.”
He got it.
Blackhawk laughed. “I spoke to Dakota’s boss a few minutes ago.”
She crossed her arms. “And?”
He told her everything.
From his obsession, to the fact that he was likely going to kill Bonnie.
Elizabeth wasn’t sure what to say. This couldn’t be her husband. This was a mess.
Ethan hated messes.
“Uh, handsome, are you okay? You’re sure that you want to wrangle that runaway train?”
“She can’t go to jail.”
Elizabeth stared at him.
“I’m still missing something, Ethan. What is it that you’re trying to say to me? Just spill it. I don’t have time for this kind of game.”
He trusted her.
What Ethan was about to share wasn’t one of his finer decisions in life. It was one of those boss ones that he couldn’t explain to anyone.
Only, he trusted his wife. She was the keeper of his secrets, and vice versa.
“You and I both know what a danger she is, Elizabeth. I’m telling you that you can’t let her go to jail.”
There.
He said it.
You couldn’t shock her more. Elizabeth was stunned beyond belief.
Yeah, her husband had really changed.
Ethan was basically telling her terminate the woman in cold blood instead of letting a jury decide her fate.
That was…odd.
“So, you want me to kill her?”
“No. I want you to find her. I think Dakota will take care of the rest.”
She sat down.
This was…insanity.
“What?” he asked.
“Since when am I the FBI’s hired gun, Ethan?” she asked, glancing up at him. “Since when do we authorize that someone be taken out without a jury?”
“It’s happened before, baby, and you know it.”
She got it.
Elizabeth tended to shoot first and ask questions later. That was how she rolled, and up to this point, she didn’t question it.
Well, she did with ‘The Butcher’, and maybe that was why she was leery.
“Ethan.”
He moved to position himself on the table in front of her, tugging up his dress pants before he sat.
“Share with me what you’re thinking,” he stated. “Let me in.”
“I don’t like the feeling this gives me.”
“I don’t like saying it, but let’s face it. This case is destroying him. The man needs vengeance or he’s going to blow.”
She was well aware.
“I’m not talking about Dakota. I’m talking about what you’re asking me to do.”
“It’s not me. This comes from higher up.”
She stared at him.
“Gabe?”
He shook his head.
“God?” she asked hopefully, pretty sure she wouldn’t like the other option.
He shook his head again.
“The President or the United States?”
He nodded.
She knew Ethan couldn’t discuss much of anything with her. His position was above hers, and his security level trumped hers.
“Jesus.”
“I’m not saying hunt her down and put a bullet in her head, but if you have her in your sights, and you have the chance to bring her in or end it, then I say end it. I know if I get the chance, that’s my plan.”
Yeah, this was a different Ethan Blackhawk.
“I need more than that, Ethan. If you’re asking me to be the hired gun for this, then I need you to share it all.”
He stared at her.
“Ethan?”
“You know who needs this handled, and because WE botched the Oracle mess, we’re in his line of fire. I’ve been told we’re not to question it. When you’re told to do it, we do it.”
Well, that pissed her off.
And scared her.
“Crispy bacon-y baby Jesus. We are screwed.”
Yeah, she could say that again.
“When?”
Ethan knew telling her was dangerous. He knew he wasn’t allowed to share everything.
His job…
Then he stared at her. The icy blue eyes, and the freckles that made her look so innocent and that had stolen his heart…
He couldn’t keep it from her.
“While I was filling in for Gabe, we had a joint staff meeting. Homeland, FBI, Marshals, and a few other divisions. Bonnie was brought up. The President of the United States doesn’t want her gett
ing away again. It seems after my old partner killed the ex-FBI director, the president is going down his list and asking that public enemy number one is taken out.”
She listened.
“She’s been the Marshal’s biggest issue. The President made sure you’re on the list to do the deed. That’s where the Oracle screw up comes into play.”
She laughed sardonically. “He’s angry because I told him I had a file on all the things that would make his life hell. This has NOTHING to do with Oracle. This is about a woman telling that asshole that he could kiss her ass.”
He knew it was.
It had made his life…tricky.
“Bonnie has to go. Dakota is a lit fuse. If he kills her, let him.”
This was just all kinds of wrong, but what could she do? It was save Oracle, Nathaniel Carter, Luke, and Maura Mars or let the President have Avalon back.
She couldn’t do it.
Elizabeth, like Ethan, had no choice.
“You know I hate that douchebag, right?” she asked.
He did too.
Only, this man was the leader of the free world. It was a waiting game from here on out. The next one would be in office in a few months. They had to play the game.
Elizabeth was still feeling off. There was something Ethan wasn’t telling her.
“You’re hiding something.”
He looked up at her and he genuinely looked troubled—almost miserable.
“I don’t want you carrying that on your soul,” he admitted, taking her hands in his. He gently brought them to his lips and let them linger. “I don’t want you carrying that bloodstain on your heart, so I’m taking a rogue agent in with the hopes he’ll pull the trigger, not you.”
Now she got it.
Dakota was far enough gone that he wouldn’t think twice. He was the one Ethan wanted handling it.
“I know this is a mess, but I need you to let me do my job, and navigate it. Please.”
What wouldn’t she do for this man?
She loved him, and she knew what kind of person he was. This had to weigh on him.
She cut him a break.
“Okay. He’s in. If he puts his hands on me again,” she began, only to be cut off.
“He used up his one ‘get out of jail free’ card. President or not, I’ll neuter him if he touches you again.”
Elizabeth leaned forward to give him a kiss. “It’s hard being boss, isn’t it?”
He nodded.
“You have all kinds of secrets.”
He nodded more.
“Want to go home and let me interrogate you?”
He snorted. “Hell, yeah!”
Elizabeth got up and held out her hand. “Let’s go get the update from the team. By now, Wonder Boy, the barely adequate head tech, should have something on the hair I found. Then you can tell me about the person who found the nun.”
He could do that.
As they headed toward the door, Ethan took her hand in his.
“I love you,” he said, turning her to face him.
Gently, he pulled her against him and buried his face in her hair. It reminded him of home.
He couldn’t wait to get there.
“I love you too,” she admitted. “Being away from you taught me one lesson.”
“What?” he asked.
“That I took you for granted, too, Ethan. How many times over the last twenty years did you profile for me?”
“Unknowingly.”
“Still. Even then, I relied on you. Then you rode into Salem and helped me find a killer. I’ve called you up and you’d drop everything to do a profile—even when you’re so damn bogged down. I took all of the things you do for me for granted. You found me security I could like.”
He had.
“I wanted you safe. If you hated your guy, you’d lose him or kill him. That’s paperwork.”
She touched his cheek. “That’s love.”
Yes, yes, it was.
“When we were broken up…?”
He stopped her. “Separated. I don’t like either word, but the first implies that we weren’t fixable. We were never that, Elizabeth. I was always coming for you.”
She believed him.
So, she gave him the words in her heart.
“When we were separated by distance, you were still checking up on me. You had my back then, now, and always. That means everything to me. I didn’t see it then, but now I do.”
That meant the world to him too.
He’d called daily.
He’d sent flowers.
He’d tried.
She’d become his obsession. Ethan got why Dakota was tied up in knots. He’d lived those feelings. The only thing that saved him was getting her back.
Maybe getting Bonnie would save him.
He wanted to give the man a fighting chance. Beyond using him to kill her, he wanted to help the man find his way out of the mired mess.
It wasn’t a one-man job. The love of a good woman would always chase away the shadows.
Elizabeth had.
“I promise to never take you for granted again. I love you, Ethan Jackson Blackhawk.”
She gave him a kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck. Ethan let her cling, and he even picked her up so she was dangling against his body, feet just off the floor. Their mouths fused together, they shared love, and they spent that moment reminding each other what had always been there.
It was going to be better than ever.
He knew it.
Slowly, he lowered her to her feet.
“The PDA is going to kill me,” she teased. “I don’t know how to process it.”
That made him grin.
Her heart skipped in her chest when the stress ebbed away from his face. He looked so damn handsome.
It always staggered her.
“Come to my office later, and I’ll definitely let you process it there.”
She stared at him.
“Wait! Did you just ask me to fornicate in your office? Here? At the FBI?”
Hell, yes, he did!
“You can believe it. I was alluding to doing it on my desk, in my shower, and on the couch.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
She knew what she was thinking.
Ethan was definitely a new man.
And she loved it.
“And you can convince me at least once a week,” he suggested.
She was speechless as he led her out.
What the hell could she say to that?
But absofreakingloutely…
Dakota listened to Callen as he showed him all the pictures on the screen and walked him step by step through the crime scene. Everything he was showing them told one hell of a tale.
The women were off their rockers.
Bonnie had made a huge mess of the nun, and they were in the process of figuring out who the hell had helped her.
“That’s what we have,” Callen stated.
“That’s a lot.”
Was it?
He wasn’t sure.
It was odd to work a case knowing who the killer was beforehand. Most of the time, they were working to figure out who was behind the murdering. Now they were all about trying to get a lead on ‘Lizzie’.
Elizabeth and Ethan strolled into the room.
They were polar opposites.
She was dressed in her normal boots and jeans, and he was dressed like the Deputy Director of the FBI.
But they fit.
Plus, they were holding hands.
“What do we have?” she asked, ignoring the man standing beside her husband.
Chris knew what was coming, and he was ready for the fast-paced interrogation that was about to come.
They had their own method of working together.
She demanded.
He refused to speculate.
They busted each other’s asses.
He began.
“I opened Sister Margaret Peace, and I found that she did in
deed die of exsanguination. That was spot on. She had a fracture to her skull, where it looks like she was struck in the head.”
Elizabeth watched as Tony threw the x-ray on the screen. The two men worked like well-oiled machines.
“Do we have a weapon?” she asked, focusing on their head tech, Amir Hayden.
“Yes, I believe it was the base of an ax handle. She was struck in the head, and that likely rendered her unconscious.”
Elizabeth had to address this.
“Am I right to assume that since she signed this ‘Bonnie and Lizzie’, that we’re talking about Lizzie Borden?”
Dakota raised his hand.
She glanced over at him. “Yes?”
“First, I’m sorry.”
She didn’t speak.
“I came in here pissed off, thinking you were going to dick us over. I shouldn’t have. If you want me to step off this case because we can’t work together, I get it.”
He was offering her an olive branch.
“You don’t owe me an apology,” Elizabeth stated. “You owe my team one for acting like a fool up in here. While we may have moments of ass busting, no one talks to my ME or team like you just did.”
Dakota knew he’d been wrong.
Both Blackhawk boys watched him eat crow. It spoke of the man’s personality.
Beneath it all, he was a decent person. It was easy to never apologize. It was hard to own it.
“I’m sorry, Doctor. How I spoke to you was uncalled for, and if you want me out of here, I’ll go. Please let Sarah stay. She tried to stop me.”
Chris grabbed his cane and headed toward the man. He held out his hand. “It’s okay, Marshal Rakin. We’ve all been there on a case that has us tied up in knots.”
He shook his hand. “Dakota, please.”
Chris smiled.
Elizabeth let it play out. If Dakota was going to help them, he couldn’t be over the edge.
“Are we done?” she asked. “May I continue?”
“One more thing.”
She lifted a brow. This was certainly going to be interesting. She could tell.
“The floor is still yours.”
He headed toward Ethan. “I’m sorry we doubted you,” he offered.
“About?”
“Bonnie having a partner. You were right, and I’m lucky to be working with your team.”
He offered his hand again.
Ethan shook it.
“It’s not my team. I’m here in the capacity as the profiler. Elizabeth is running this circus. I’m not offended by your doubt. If I held a grudge over every agent, cop, detective, or marshal who doubted my profile at first, nothing would get done.”
Revenge has Come (An FBI/Romance Thriller Book 19) Page 30
