I’ll hurt you later, alligator.
Bonnie.’
She wanted to be sick.
She passed the note to her husband. He read it, and his face said the same thing.
They’d lucked out in one way, but not in another. This meant it wasn’t over. They would have to live looking over their shoulders for the crazy train to take them out.
Elizabeth was pissed.
Maeve inviting those ladies into their home had nearly cost them Charlie, and by the grace of Christina Hart and Blue Garrick, they pulled that out of the shitter.
Still, she couldn’t breathe.
More importantly, she wanted to hold her baby. As soon as they got this scene handled, she was going to do just that.
Callen took the note.
“She’s not getting our kids. Not now, not ever,” he stated. “I’ll die before our kids get hurt.”
She felt the same.
As did Ethan.
Elizabeth was able to slightly breathe, knowing that Bonnie would take a good couple of years to come back at her.
That was her only solace.
“Sarah, do you have your tablet?” she asked.
“Yeah, in the SUV. Why?”
“We need to see where Bonnie headed next. If we can cut her off, I’d rather not worry about her coming at me in the next few months.”
They all got it.
Sarah headed out.
“Are we chasing her?” Dakota asked, coming to her side. “We have her on the run, and we can catch her.”
Elizabeth stared at Ethan.
He shook his head.
“My boss and I say no. She’s in the wind. If Sarah finds that she’s left Salem, we’ll give you the information, but you’ll have to run with it. Marshals hunt. FBI handles ongoing investigations. I don’t doubt that Lizzie/Amara was doing all the killing. She wouldn’t want to get her hands dirty.”
“But she killed Amara.”
Here was the slippery slope. “She killed a killer. If your boss okays it, you’re on duty.”
He put his fist through the wall. Dakota knew the chances of that happening were slim to none.
They’d let her slip through their fingers.
Elizabeth lost her!
Ethan stared at him as he raged around the room. “You’re destroying a crime scene. Knock it off.”
He didn’t hear him.
Instead, Dakota flipped the one coffee table in anger.
“So, while she’s chasing your family, you’re okay with it, but while I’m trying to get justice for Debra, you don’t give a shit?”
She approached him.
“I give more than a shit, Dakota. I just know Bonnie. She’s going to play this safe. She’s a chicken. She won’t get caught. She’ll go under for years again.”
He threw a lamp against the wall.
Sarah came in and watched her partner flipping his shit.
“Dakota!”
He didn’t care.
He stormed out.
They all watched him leave.
“I’m sorry. He’s stressed,” she said, trying to make excuses for the man.
She didn’t have to.
They were all pissed, but this just proved they were right. Dakota was in no shape to hunt Bonnie.
NONE.
“I ran Will’s financials.”
“And?”
“He had a couple of charges in the last three hours. Right after you had your press conference, they started coming in,” Sarah admitted.
“What?”
“The dead man is apparently taking a trip. He bought himself a ticket to New Orleans and a steak dinner at the airport. He also purchased some jewelry, some wine, and a shitload of magazines.”
She sighed.
“When does that flight land?”
Yeah, that was the bad news.
“It touched down around two minutes ago.”
Ethan patted her on the back. “Baby, we can’t get there in time, and New Orleans is huge. The hub alone will take the whole police force if we could mobilize in minutes. She’s going to be the first one off the plane, and she’s going to be incognito.”
She was aware.
“So, you’re letting her go?” Sarah asked.
“What would you do if you were a Fed?”
She thought about it. “Regroup, reevaluate, and start fresh tomorrow out of New Orleans.”
“Well, at least one of you has some common sense,” Elizabeth said.
“We’ll get this body handled, we’ll process the data, and we’ll hand it over to you guys. She’s yours to chase. When you find her…?” Elizabeth asked.
She already knew what she was going to say.
“We know. If she’s killing again, she’s yours.”
Sarah headed out.
She had to calm her partner down.
This was about to be a marathon, not a sprint.
Bonnie was in the wind.
Again.
Chapter Nineteen
Sunday Night
Wayfarer
To say that Dakota Rakin was pissed would be an understatement. In fact, he was disappointed in Elizabeth Blackhawk. She was being a big chicken shit, and she should be willing to chase Bonnie all over the world—if need be.
As he sat in his hotel room, packing his bag for their flight in the morning, he was restless.
He was miserable.
He was…lonely.
He needed something, and he couldn’t stay in that room alone any more.
Grabbing his key to the roach coach, he headed down the hall to his partner’s room.
Maybe, she’d want to get dinner.
Maybe, she’d keep him occupied.
Truth be told, he was thinking about the kiss they’d shared. It had been pretty hot.
Knocking on the door, she opened it. Sarah was in a long t-shirt, and her hair was down.
“What’s up?” she asked.
He stared at her.
“Dakota?”
“I don’t want to be alone. I’m angry, pissed off, and I want to…”
She stared at him.
“What?” she asked.
He was swallowing his pride. Before, he’d had a woman hand him his heart. This was a risk.
“I want to be with you.”
Sarah had to choose.
“I want more than sex, Dakota. I want a relationship with someone I love.”
His heart skipped.
Had she just said…?
When he didn’t reply, she went to close the door. It was clear it was heading nowhere.
“Please don’t reject me. I need you. I’m impossible to love.”
She remembered what he said about Elizabeth turning his marriage proposal down. She remembered what his eyes looked like as he relived that.
It was the same now.
He was hurt and haunted.
That had damaged him.
Instead of doing what she knew was right, she held out her hand. When he took it, Sarah pulled him into her room.
“No matter what, Dakota, I won’t hurt you.”
That helped him heal.
He needed the love of one person. He needed someone to tell his secrets to, and he needed a woman to be his.
Finally.
She let him lead, giving him the chance to let it all go. As they fell onto the bed in a kiss, he knew one thing.
While she was giving him what he needed, Dakota couldn’t promise her the same thing.
He was a bastard to his core.
And unfixable.
* * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *
Fort Whitefox-Blackhawk
Salem
HOURS Later
After the week they’d had, all three of them were grateful to fall into bed. After going home, cuddling Charlie, and telling Wyler what the note had said, they were ready to call it a night.
Their bodies hurt.
Their souls were battered.
And t
hey were exhausted from wading through the gore.
This had taken a lot out of them. Being hit by Bonnie while trying to fix their marriage had been brutal, but they’d persevered. They were actually stronger.
They could fight anything.
Now, safely tucked into their home, life was returning to normal.
Ethan had given some of the security a night off, once they found out Bonnie had gone under in New Orleans. In the morning, they’d be heading back to DC. While they needed a vacation, Elizabeth wanted to be where the kids were safe.
Salem was safe for the night, but in the long run?
DC was better.
There were things you didn’t want to risk. This was one of them. While they were safe enough, Bonnie’s words were on all of their minds.
But for tonight…
They would sleep.
Curling between her men, they huddled beneath the covers, and slowly, they slipped into slumber.
There was silence.
There was the slow easy breathing.
There was the occasional sound as someone moved or sighed in contentment.
Yes, Bonnie may have gotten away, but they had won.
They had all lived to fight another day.
Sometimes, that had to be enough.
* * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *
She was watching them.
From the trees, she watched as some of the security detail left, leaving one on the perimeter, and one inside.
Obviously, they thought they were in clear.
That was amusing.
Oh, she wasn’t done.
Elizabeth had beaten her at her own game, but that entire flight, it ate away at her.
It pissed her off.
It couldn’t end like that.
She was running and that wasn’t her style. No, Bonnie was smart, and she’d proven she could fool Clyde, Elizabeth, the US Marshals, and even Lizzie, her protégé.
No, this wasn’t over.
She wanted blood, and until she could stick a dagger through Elizabeth’s heart, she couldn’t stop. Once she did the deed, then she’d race for her new hidey-hole.
She needed this for herself.
She needed retribution for losing her wonderful life.
While she might not get that baby, Charlie, she’d get someone. With a gun tucked into her cargo pants, she headed toward the house. She’d watched long enough to know where the one security guy would stop to smoke.
As he did it, as predictable as ever, she grinned.
It was time.
Pulling out her Taser, she got into position. As soon as she made a sound, he turned, and the prongs went into his neck, and it fried him.
His body jerked silently as she approached, refusing to remove her finger from the trigger until she had him neutralized.
Then, pulling her blade, she sliced him across his throat and watched him bleed.
He was dead.
Perfect.
One guard down, and one to go. Maybe they shouldn’t have sent the other four off duty.
Tsk.
Tsk.
Bonnie pulled the downed man into the trees and got back into position. She wanted into that house, but the security system…it was military grade.
She wasn’t getting in without the code, and Chris Santana, that besotted fool, wouldn’t spill it.
So, Plan B.
Bonnie looked at the gasoline she had stashed nearby, and a plan came to mind. Silently, she crept around the house, dousing the front porch with fuel. She hit all the sides of the house and windows too.
Why not cook them all alive? Maybe some of those little babies would cook in their own piggy skins.
She wanted to laugh, but she knew there were dogs inside, and she couldn’t alert them.
Hate was her friend.
Elizabeth was her enemy.
And they were about to collide.
Tossing the match onto the soaked ground and porch, the flames erupted. She kept going, making sure the whole perimeter was a blaze.
Then she hid.
Heading back into the trees, Bonnie did what she did best.
She watched.
She waited.
And when they tried to leave…
She’d be ready.
The smoke alarms began going off within minutes. They screamed and screeched out warning as the two dogs went crazy.
Elizabeth, Ethan, and Callen hopped out of bed, pulled on clothes, and boots before they raced for the hallway.
Ivan was there, assessing the situation. The house was already filling with acrid smoke.
“We can’t get them out the front. The outside is fully engulfed,” he said.
He had his tablet and the alarms were flashing on the house schematics.
She stared down at the tablet.
There was only one way out.
“Get them out the back,” Elizabeth shouted, as Wyler, Chris, and Ivan began wrangling all of the kids. They made sure everyone was accounted for, and they hustled out the door with the two dogs flanking Ethan and Charlie.
It was bedlam.
Kids were screaming.
The men were shouting orders over it.
Ivan was searching for his tag team security guy, Liam. He was nowhere to be found.
Elizabeth was in a panic.
Maeve was lagging behind, trying to grab things on her way out.
On the back porch, they saw the ONLY way out. Some of the fire had died in a patch of wet grass, and they only had moments.
They didn’t have time to overthink it.
Elizabeth shoved her best friend through. He rushed past carrying Bethe. He was covering her mouth with his shirt so she wouldn’t get smoke inhalation.
Callen was next with CJ and EJ. They were scared and crying as they clung to their dad.
Elizabeth followed with Christopher Anthony in her arms, protecting him from the flames as they licked at her body.
Wyler was next, Cat clinging to him as he tried to get past the fire to safety.
Ethan was in the rear with Maeve and Ivan behind him. He was trying to clear a path for her as he carried Charlie. The flames were kicking up, and the woman was barefoot and in her nightgown.
This was bad.
Ethan didn’t buy this was an accident. He smelled gasoline, and he knew what had happened.
Bonnie, that bitch, was back.
Blackhawk was hellbent on one thing, and myopically focused. He wasn’t letting Bonnie get his daughter.
Charlie was his.
He’d die before seeing her killed. He knew Elizabeth’s dogs would too. He whistled, and they stayed by his side.
As they jumped through the closing wall of flames, they were in the clear.
“Get to the front,” Ivan shouted, giving them direction. “I have to find Liam,” he said, racing around the other side of the house. “I’ll meet you up there!”
Ethan tried to take Maeve’s hand.
“Go! I’m good,” she said, trying not to step on any sticks or branches. “I move slow. I’m good.”
He did what she said, as he heard his kids wailing from the front yard. Ethan raced to the front of the house, leaving Maeve to follow at her slower speed.
They’d cut that close.
At least they’d all survived.
Bonnie watched, trying to decide which one to shoot. Then she saw her.
Oh, it was priceless.
As the big, fat pregnant one cleared the flames, she opted to lag behind—like some poor wounded lamb.
It was decided.
Bonnie came to her rescue.
“Hello, Maeve, darlin’,” she mocked in a fake Irish accent as she yanked her roughly behind a tree.
Maeve went to scream, but the gun to her belly stopped her in her tracks.
“I’ll knock you out, kill your baby with one bullet, and then I’ll shoot those little kids. Is that how you want to have this play out?”
“Gia.”
<
br /> She laughed.
This horrible woman was threatening her family.
“What do you want?” she asked.
“I’ll let you go, but I need to talk to Elizabeth. You and your baby’s life, or hers. Choose.”
She didn’t want to do this. It felt wrong to betray her husband’s daughter-in-law, but she didn’t want to die.
She didn’t want her child to perish.
Bonnie cocked the gun.
“I’ll help you if you let me go.”
The deal was done.
Maeve felt horrible, but she couldn’t let her son be killed. It would destroy her and Wyler.
Elizabeth was smart.
She would figure it out and save her before anyone got hurt. She trusted the woman.
She’d save her.
Bonnie dragged the barefoot woman into the trees.
“Let’s go set the scene. Elizabeth and I have to have a little chitchat.”
It was pure pandemonium.
No, it was a million times worse than that.
As the fire trucks came screaming toward the house, the family tried to wrangle everyone to a safe place. The adults surrounded the kids, ensuring no one got to them.
Once far from the house, they took stock.
All the kids were accounted for, and so were the dogs.
That’s when Wyler realized something.
Shit!
“Maeve’s missing!” Wyler began, as he tried to run back toward the house to go inside the inferno.
Callen grabbed him and wouldn’t let go.
“She got out,” Ethan stated. “I was right in front of her. We came through and I then ran down here with Charlie.”
“You left her alone?” Wyler stated incredulously.
“Dad, she was RIGHT behind me! I made sure she got out, and she told me to get the kids to safety. Bonnie was after Charlie,” he said, pointing at his child.
This was bad.
Elizabeth motioned for Ivan.
He raced over and his face said it all.
Revenge has Come (An FBI/Romance Thriller Book 19) Page 58
