The days seemed to be getting longer, and she felt like she was getting older by the minute. What wouldn’t she give for a bubble bath and foot massage?
Going from the estrangement with Ethan to Bonnie’s return had rattled her cage.
Elizabeth knew there was a reason for it all.
That bitch had laid in wait, ready to hit her when she was at her lowest.
Scattered.
Broken.
That win went to Bonnie.
She’d caught her off guard.
Hopefully, they didn’t all pay for that.
In the living room, after Wyler and Maeve went to bed, Elizabeth, Ethan, Callen, Chris, and their security had a meeting. They were now focused on the inevitable.
The family.
While she was worried about EVERYONE who might die, she was now focused on the last part of the list. Someone in her ‘family’ was going to be hurt.
Or at least Bonnie was going to try.
That was what they needed to focus on.
“Is everyone low jacked?” Elizabeth asked, eating a slice of pizza. She really wasn’t hungry, but Callen had ordered her to eat something other than coffee and sugar.
She didn’t want a fight.
Ivan was sitting across from her with a plate balanced on his knee as he worked and ate at the same time.
“Yes, ma’am. We have it all under control.”
“Can you just call me Elizabeth and get it over with? I’m three days past a mental breakdown, and I need to stay calm.”
He heard it in her voice.
“I can do that if that’s what you really want, Elizabeth.”
Finally.
He was cutting her some slack.
Ethan spoke up, “And you’re sure the chips will work?” he asked.
Ivan continued, “Each kids’ necklace has a tiny chip superglued to the back. The necklaces, as long as they stay on, will tell us where they are.”
Ethan took the tablet that was on the table and logged into the app that Ivan was using.
“You’ll need my…password,” he said, and then stopped when Ethan had access.
“Son, my clearance is like a week past yours.”
“Yeah, I can see that.”
“Show me how to use it,” he said.
Ivan showed him the list of people logged in as subjects. “Here are your kids. I didn’t use their names since it’s safer that fewer people know about this.”
They got it.
“Where is Cat?” Callen asked.
He pushed on WF-Two, and pulled her up.
“It tracks anything over ten feet away. She’s currently seventy feet away and in her bedroom.”
He ran down everyone on the list.
“Who’s the skull?” she asked, looking at the one closest to her.
Ivan glanced over at Chris.
“Seriously?” he asked. “You could hunt up a skull, but you couldn’t just write ‘Chris’?”
Elizabeth laughed.
“I think it’s perfect,” she offered.
He was glad she was amused. The tension surrounding them was insane. His job was not only to protect, but to make sure they made it through this intact.
“All of you are also tagged. We have Papa Bear, Momma Bear, and Baby Bear.”
Callen stared at him as he chewed. “If you tell me I’m Baby Bear, I’m going to hurt you.”
She laughed even harder.
“Listen, don’t read into it,” Ivan stated. “We needed something with threes.”
“I could have been the big bad wolf,” he stated. “She could have been Goldilocks, and he could have been Papa Bear.”
“You have an interesting mind, sir. You should do something creative for a living…like write. Meanwhile, leave this kinda thing to me.”
Callen stared at him.
“I don’t think I like you.”
Elizabeth laughed. “Welcome to my world.”
Callen scowled.
“Oh, it’s all fun and games when he’s busting my ass, but the second Igor goes rogue on one of you, that’s when you get pissy?”
“Why can’t he be Baby Bear. He’s smaller.”
Ethan sipped his beer. “Because he’s afraid of me. I’m technically his boss.”
Callen sighed. “Fine! I’m Baby Bear.”
At that moment, Wyler came down the stairs to get his wife some milk. “Um, should you be talking about your bedroom kink with security?” he teased.
Elizabeth practically pissed her pants with laughter. She held up her fist and Wyler bumped it as he walked past.
“Funny. Real funny, Dad.”
“What’s their names?” Callen asked, referring to his Father and Maeve.
“Eagle one and Eagle two.”
“What? How did they rank that?”
“She’s having a baby, and there’s an egg in the nest—clearly.”
Callen gave up.
This was a losing battle.
“I think we’re good,” Ethan said, wiping his eyes. Every time he looked over at his brother, he started laughing.
Callen shook his head.
“Weirdos.”
“Let’s discuss something else,” Elizabeth stated. “I gave birth. My bladder is weak. I’m about to really pee.”
Ivan handed her napkins.
“Troll.”
“Hag,” he replied.
Callen laughed. “This family is insane,” he offered as his father walked by with a jar of pickles, some coconut oil, and some whipped cream.
“First kid that comments on any kind of sex act is going to face down a hungry pregnant woman. I’m not even messing around,” Wyler said, cutting them off. “She needs a snack.”
They all held their tongues.
And laughter.
This was definitely needed.
The day had sucked.
When Wyler was gone, Elizabeth pulled out her cell. “I have to make a call,” she said, dialing Christina.
When the woman picked up and answered in her singsong voice, she could tell she was back at it.
“You’re working, aren’t you?” she asked.
“Hell, yes, and I love it! Although, your head tech is a slob. He has files all over the place and things hidden in weird places on his desktop. How does he find things when he has to go to court to testify?”
She had no freaking clue.
No one did.
“Yeah, he’s three days short of a stay at a sanitarium,” she admitted. “Don’t be shocked by anything you find there. If there’s porn on his desktop, just ignore it.”
“Uh, would that be sexy Native porn?” she teased.
Elizabeth snorted. “God, I can only hope so! Make copies.”
“HEY!” Callen and Ethan said at the same time.
She laughed.
“I know this is probably premature, but have you found anything? Bonnie and her bitch buddy took Doctor Michaels apart. They had to leave trace.”
Christina decided to be honest. “Boss, I’m going to have to start at the beginning and work my way through it all. I’m at Cannon right now, and there’s some trace that I found that I can cross compare to the next two victims.”
She got it.
You couldn’t get blood from a stone.
“I’m going to work all night, and then crash in Doctor Leonard’s office. I’ll find you something, but I need to be methodical about it. Evidence is a story, and I have to start at the beginning like you do with all books. Plus, I have this plant here with a sticky note on it from some dude named Dakota. Why do I want to dust and rinse?”
She paused.
Then she got it.
“Dakota is a US Marshal, and his handwriting blows. He means ‘dust for prints’. That must be something he picked up at the doctor’s home.”
Well, that made more sense.
“I also have to do that. You’d think he’d catalog something and log it into evidence the right way.”
No, he re
ally wouldn’t.
You couldn’t beat that dead horse anymore.
Ethan spoke up.
“If you find porn…”
Christina didn’t miss a beat.
“Well, I won’t go looking for it. I doubt it’ll be my thing. I’m more about the things in Callen’s books. I skip right to the sex in those because…wow…hot.”
He started laughing.
“Zip it, Baby Bear.”
He growled at her and then tugged her into his lap to cuddle with his ‘Momma Bear’.
“I’ll call you as soon as I get something. With your head tech on the ground there, and me here, we should find something in tandem.”
Chris spoke up, “Honestly, Christina, his work is lacking. Don’t be shocked if you find he’s missed something.”
She laughed. “They all want the glory, don’t they?” she asked.
He got it.
People thought what they did was easy, and that was furthest from the truth. Their jobs were damn hard. You had to be a type A personality with a lot of OCD thrown in to manage it all.
“Just work through it, Christina. Thank you so much for coming back to help. I’m sure it was hard to leave Milo and Kane.”
“I’ll see them soon. I’ll get processing. Nighty night!”
She was gone.
“She sounded like a ball of energy,” Ivan stated, eating his pizza.
“She’s super tech. If there’s something to be found,” Elizabeth offered, “she’s going to find it.”
Elizabeth’s phone rang.
She grabbed it and recognized the number.
“Hey, Ty, what’s shaking?”
“I was supposed to meet with the mayor tonight. We had planned for eight but he was a no show.”
She listened. “Yeah, he told me he was working via text, and that as soon as he got free of it, he’d call me. He must be backlogged,” she offered, looking at her watch.
That seemed to surprise him.
“Really?”
“What?” she asked.
“I told him this morning what was happening, and he said he had plans with that woman he’s been seeing. I know for a fact he wasn’t working.”
That made them all pay attention.
Elizabeth had spoken to the mayor a few weeks ago by phone when he realized she was in town.
He’d mentioned a woman.
Until that moment, it didn’t click.
Shit!
“Jesus!” she muttered.
“Yeah, I’m worried.”
“What can you tell me about her?” Elizabeth asked, all the while pointing at Callen. He grabbed his tablet and waited as she put her call on speaker.
“I don’t know much. He’s been hush-hush and acting like some love-sick school boy.”
“What do you know?” she asked.
“Her name is Keres Hatch. He’s been talking about her for a month now. You’d swear she was the next coming of Jesus himself.”
All the alarm bells began going off.
“And you haven’t heard from him at all this afternoon?”
“No. I’ve called, and he doesn’t answer his phone. That’s why I was calling you to see if he checked in.”
Elizabeth flipped through her texts on her cell. She had gotten the same one from him.
‘Still tied up. I’ll call later.’
But he never called.
Yeah, her gut was screaming.
This was going to be bad. She could already tell.
“I need you to grab one of your deputies, and head over to Chris’s home. I’ll meet you there with my team.”
“Are you thinking…?” Ty couldn’t finish. The thought horrified him too much.
“Let’s just say I hope he’s asleep and naked with his new woman like Tony was. If not...?”
She didn’t have to finish.
“We’ll see you there.”
Elizabeth hung up.
She didn’t speak.
“Baby,” Ethan offered. He could see this weighing on her. Of course it would. She was carrying the world on her shoulders. Plus, he felt horrible.
He’d blown off the man’s first text, assuming he was, indeed, working.
This was going to be bad, and he knew it.
She held up her hand as she processed it all.
Elizabeth had to stay focused.
“Ivan, I want you to watch this house like these babies were your own. Am I clear? She wants us to head out. That’s why she stalled by sending me those texts. I get it now. He’s tied up. She was being a bitch.”
He didn’t argue.
Thankfully.
Ivan stood. “I’ll get the men ready,” he stated. “We’ll lock the place down. Liam and I will coordinate it. You have nothing to worry about.”
They had no choice.
They had to trust their team.
As of that moment, they had even bigger issues to worry about.
* * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *
The Wayfarer
When Dakota got the call, he and Sarah were working on research. He was a little surprised to hear from Elizabeth.
“What’s up?”
“We have another one—or I think we do. The mayor has gone off the grid. The sheriff hasn’t heard from him, and I’m getting suspicious texts that he’s busy.”
He knew what that meant.
“It could be…”
She cut him off.
“I know. That’s what has me afraid. We are headed there, and figured you might want to be in on this.”
Sarah looked at him.
“My partner too?”
“Actually, I need her to do me a huge favor,” Elizabeth said. “We have a name.”
He put his cell on speaker.
“She’s here.”
“Sarah, find everything you can on Keres Hatch. She’s the alleged girlfriend and person who last saw the mayor.”
She could do that.
There was a knock on the door.
“I’m sending you some backup,” Elizabeth offered. “That should be Special Agent Blue Garrick. She’s good at this kind of thing, and she’s a sketch artist. Use her.”
“Thanks,” she said.
Elizabeth rattled off the address. “Be there in ten,” she ordered, hanging up the phone.
Dakota opened the door.
“Hey! I’m Blue. Elizabeth sent me,” she said.
Dakota let the redhead in, and shook her hand. “This is my partner, Sarah Valley. Good luck. I have to go.”
He got to the door and stopped.
Instead of leaving, he turned around, strode right toward a sitting Sarah, and planted one on her mouth.
“Be safe,” he said, pulling away.
When he was gone, Blue laughed. “All my partner used to do was buy me a coffee.”
Sarah didn’t know what to say.
She was as confused as hell.
Dakota Rakin had messed with her mind.
And heart.
* * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *
Chris Santana’s
Home
When they got there, it was pitch black out, and there wasn’t a sound of a cricket to be heard.
It was creepy.
As Elizabeth stood there, both men flanked her body with theirs. It was clear they were expecting something.
As the lights appeared coming down the gravel road, they braced themselves.
In the first car was the sheriff and Deputy Willis, and behind them was Dakota.
It looked like the gang was all there.
It was time.
“Everything looks normal,” stated Tyrell, as he headed her way.
Elizabeth could see from the puff in his uniform, he was packing a vest.
Good for him.
She was too.
“Here’s the deal. She’s tried to blow people’s heads off with tripwires. Go in, look for them, and stay low. She aims mid chest,” she said, pointing to
her neck area.
The men nodded.
“Ty, you get the back. Be careful.”
He patted her on the shoulder as he and his deputy ran around the building.
“I’m sorry,” Callen said, seeing the pain in his wife’s eyes. “You know she killed him, don’t you?”
She nodded.
“How?”
Elizabeth pointed toward the window. When they didn’t see it, she pulled out her cell and used the flashlight. On the glass, there was a bloody number four.
“She’s baiting me. She’s screwing with me,” she said, as they reached the front door.
Ethan knocked. “Chris! It’s Ethan Blackhawk! Open up!”
They waited.
Nothing.
“Kick it open,” she said, stepping back.
Ethan did just that. He turned, booted the door, and went in low, Callen and Elizabeth right behind him. They heard the kitchen door break in too.
The smell overwhelmed them.
And they knew why.
There was Chris Santana, or what was left of him. He was splayed out, like nothing more than a piece of meat.
It broke her heart.
Bonnie and Lizzie had struck again.
She fought the tears. He’d been her deputy, he’d been her buddy, and he’d been someone she trusted in Salem. He was a good man, and he didn’t deserve this.
This sucked.
Ty entered the room, and he stopped.
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” he said, glancing up at her. “You weren’t kidding about her being sick.”
She shook her head.
“No, and she’s taken her fourth. There’s only two left before she reaches the end of her game.”
“Then what?” Ty asked, trying not to throw up as the tears for his friend filled his eyes.
Elizabeth had no doubt.
“Then she’ll come for me.”
And that was the cold, hard facts.
* * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *
Salem
Somewhere
The two women were hiding out where they wouldn’t be found.
Elizabeth Blackhawk was hot on their tails, and this was the thrill of being hunted. Messing with her was half the fun, and they couldn’t wait.
Revenge has Come (An FBI/Romance Thriller Book 19) Page 52
