True Love Lost (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 3))

by Kelley, Morgan

  Callen was torn. Family obligations or a legitimate chance at a future not tied to his past. Maybe his brother was right. It wasn’t like he had to spend the rest of his life with her, there was dating.

  “Think about it, and then decide. Besides you have one thing in your favor.”

  “What’s that?” he asked.

  Blackhawk laughed. “Elizabeth has the men in this family wrapped around her fingers. If there’s a way to get granddad to accept her, and welcome her, Lyzee can do it.”

  He laughed. “She said as much.”

  “Then I say you forget the whole Native American clause granddad threw out there and just start living and decide after the fact. Her heritage and yours shouldn’t matter.”

  He was curious. “If granddad hated Elizabeth what would you have done?”

  “I would have had children with her, built a life and lived happily ever after off the Rez and away from the old man. Granddad made his choice, and I had to make mine. You’re heart wants what it wants.” Blackhawk grinned. “Mine wanted a bossy, bold, gorgeous woman who could kick my ass.”

  He laughed because so did his and ironically they were probably picturing the same damn woman- Elizabeth.

  “I’ve never been happier, and you need to focus on the happy and forget the bullshit that’s holding you back.”

  Whitefox felt a little better. Maybe his brother had a point, and then he recalled what they were discussing. Desdemona was running from something, and he was going to have to vanquish that demon before he could get her to stay in one place long enough to get to know him.

  He ran the fingerprint reports, but his mind was downstairs on the unusual woman that caught his interest. Now he just had to trap her and lock her down.

  Elizabeth sat on a metal counter top and watched the doctor work. She was fastidious, meticulous and did her job impeccably. As she did the internals, her voice went monotone, almost cold and emotionless. It had to be a coping mechanism that she developed in medical school or in her past. Currently her hand was stuck in the third victim, and she was fishing around for organs. They’d retrieved all of them but the stomach.

  “Just the stomach missing?” she asked.

  “I’m almost around all the bowel, just give me a sec,” she answered as she carefully felt around by memory. If she pulled out the intestines, she’d have twenty five feet of slippery organs to replace in a tiny cavity. It wouldn’t be easy, fun or pretty. Especially if it perforated and all the goo oozed out all over her scrubs.

  “I don’t know how you do it,” commented Elizabeth. “Seriously.”

  “Ever kill anyone,” she asked, nonchalantly.

  “I’ve been known to take a life or five when the time is at hand,” she answered, without any regret whatsoever.

  “We all have a propensity for certain things in life. This is my thing. I like to work backwards through a person’s existence and see how they lived. Then I can tell you how they died.” At least Elizabeth wasn’t judging her.

  “So, when the bleached blonde upstairs called you Morticia, why did you flinch?” If the woman was going to get cozy with Callen, she needed to know.

  “When I was in Med school during my ME rotation, there was this one girl in the class, and she hated me” She began stitching up the Y incision. “People tend to think I’m obsessed with death because of my choice in clothes and my hair.”

  “I think you hide behind the clothes so no one sees you, and they focus on the outside and not the inside.”

  She looked up over her glasses and stared at the woman. Elizabeth Blackhawk was too smart to bullshit- so why try. “Perhaps. Anyway, this girl had it in for me, and she used to bully me.”

  “Why didn’t you kick her ass?” Elizabeth would have just taken her out and beat the hell out of the woman. Nothing beat a good old fashioned ass kicking to shut up a moron.

  She laughed. “You’re more the ‘ass kicker’, and I’m more the ‘cower in fear in a corner’ kind of woman.” Desdemona didn’t mind the truth. She wasn’t as tough as Elizabeth.

  “If it matters, I happen to like your hair,” she looked at the red highlights and was intrigued.

  “I wear black because it’s slimming and easy to match things to, and I happen to like red and black together.”

  Elizabeth thought about it. “I think you should be proud of being called Morticia.”

  Now she looked at her like she was crazy.

  “Morticia Addams was the coolest woman ever. Look how she had her husband so smitten with her that he couldn’t keep his hands off her. Then look how she commanded a room,” Elizabeth grinned and got ready for the final part of her heart healing dialog.

  “You think?” Desdemona never thought of it that way.

  “Normal is an illusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly,” said Elizabeth as she stood when her phone rang. It was Timothy Blackhawk.

  “That’s an awesome quote,” she said smiling. “Who said it?”

  Elizabeth answered the phone. “Hold on, Granddad,” she said, and then looked over at her new friend. “Morticia Addams said it. Be the spider Doc, and the flies will be running scared.”

  Desdemona decided that maybe she was right. After all, Elizabeth commanded a room. She had her husband’s attention and Callen’s easily. Of course Elizabeth was more ‘Morticia’ than her, but she could try and fix that.

  Elizabeth wandered out to the corridor. “Granddad! How is the real love of my life doing?” she said enthusiastically into the phone.

  “Elizabeth my precious raven, I am fine. How are you? That’s the question.” Timothy Blackhawk loved his granddaughter. She was a blessing and he believed sent to heal his family and take over as matriarch when his time was done on Earth.

  “We’re out on assignment, but doing well. Baby Blackhawk is kicking up a storm and Braxton Hicks contractions just started.”

  “You be safe, sweetheart, and finish growing my great grandson.”

  “What’s bothering you, Granddad?” Elizabeth knew it wasn’t going to be a social call. The eighty-eight year old man just had some Indian voodoo that gave him insight to everything. If he was calling, there was a good reason.

  “I had a vision, and it involved Callen. He isn't answering his phone. I called your office and they told me you were in the field together.”

  “He’s probably with the techs working on the murders.”

  “Who is the woman, Elizabeth?”

  And so it began.

  Honestly, she didn’t expect him to call her, and Timothy caught her off guard. Despite that, she wasn’t going to lie to him. “Her name is Desdemona Adare.”

  “In the dream she was this little doe, and she was running and hiding in the thicket. The fox was chasing her and when she was trapped in the brambles, the fox was trying to save her.”

  Elizabeth didn’t say anything.

  “She isn't Native is she, Elizabeth?”

  “No Granddad, she isn't.” Personally she thought it was some stupid antiquated thing that Timothy should let go of, but he was old school and who was she to tell him what to do.

  “Callen knows how I feel about that.”

  “Granddad, I love you, but you really aren’t part of the relationship and should butt out.” Her husband would be horrified if he had heard this conversation. “Let Callen find a woman on his own. There shouldn’t be outside influence from you, Ethan or me.”

  Timothy roared with laughter. “You are the only one that will stand up to me. I appreciate that greatly. When you come back, I demand to see her and my favorite granddaughter.” Timothy began coughing.

  “Are you still sick, Granddad?” she asked, worriedly.

  “It’s only a cold my sweet, protective raven. Stop worrying and come see me when this is all over.”

  “I love you, Granddad.”

  “I Love you, Granddaughter,” he answered, hanging up the phone.

  Now Elizabeth had to figure out how to get a stubborn patriarc
h to accept a timid outsider, find a killer that liked parts of men, keep her husband from freaking out, and grow a baby. Damn this womanhood gig was demanding!

  “Anything on fingerprints?” asked Blackhawk, looking across the table at his brother who was watching AFIS do its thing.

  “This is the final victim, and so far nothing. I don’t think they’re in the system,” he started but then heard the beeping. “Wait!” He spun the laptop around. “We have a name on victim five. The one that was missing the ears,” he said.

  “Patrick Payne, and he has an arrest record.” Whitefox scanned the screen and read the information. “His home address is outside of Red River. Our victim didn’t live here, but about eighty miles from here.”

  “Read me the stats. I’ll send the info down to Lyzee.” He had his tablet out and began inputting information as his brother read the information. After typing in the address and basics he hit send.

  “Doctor Adare was pretty close. Age thirty nine, and has a history of white collar crimes. He’s never done hard time, but he did do a six month stint courtesy of the state in a minimum security detention facility.”

  “Okay, well one down four to go.”

  Blackhawk was about to comment when his phone beeped. It was the chime he set specifically for his wife. He read the message.

  I got the info thanks! Baby is starving and granddad

  Called about Callen and the ‘woman’ in his dream.

  Give him the heads up that he’s aware. I’m handling it.

  You smelled really great today, want to make out

  tonight? (Callen if you're reading this I meant

  with my husband.)

  Ethan laughed, especially at the last part. His wife was something. He’d better tell his brother what was going down. But it would have to wait until after he confirmed making out with his wife. He furiously typed and sent it, only then looking up at his brother.

  “Why are you smiling like an idiot?”

  Blackhawk passed his phone to his brother and watched his face go from amusement to horror that their grandfather was already worried about the ‘woman’ and then back to amusement. “Well hell now I’m doubly depressed. Granddad knows and I don’t get to make out with Elizabeth tonight.”

  “Oh you can make out with her,” he said, pausing.

  Callen knew not to get his hopes up, and he waited for it. He’d give up his arm to have one big make out session with Elizabeth.

  “That is if you want to die a painful death right after.”

  “Do I get a head start after?”

  His brother snorted. “No,” and then punched him.

  “Then I guess I’ll decline.”

  “Very smart man. Let’s take a break and go get the women some lunch, including the baby,” he patted his brother on the shoulder. “It’ll all work out, Cal.”

  Whitefox only hoped he was right, and then he only hoped Elizabeth could convince the eighty-eight year old patriarch that controlled everything to let him break the biggest rule he’d set in his entire life.

  Yeah, wasn’t looking good. There were only so many miracles one man could get in his life. He’d had his share; his brother returned, and he found a woman to protect his heart. Getting another was going to be slim to none.

  Doctor Adare rolled her neck to work out the kinks that were forming. It had been five hours of looking down, and she felt like her neck was going to be stuck that way forever. She pushed the cart with the man’s body into the makeshift cooler and froze.

  There was someone standing in there with a mask and long knife. She backed out of the cooler and her voice was frozen.

  “I’m gonna cut you bitch,” he hissed, angrily.

  That set her voice free. She screamed.

  Elizabeth jumped off the counter, and her head jerked up at the blood curdling sound coming from her new friend. When her eyes registered what caused the fear from Desdemona, she did what any pregnant FBI agent would do. She charged the man.

  It didn’t occur to her to shoot him. He was relatively close to the doctor and waving around a wicked looking knife, and that meant getting him unarmed.

  The first hit knocked him back, drawing his complete focus. When he lunged for her, Elizabeth did what she was trained to do. She fought hard to save her, Desdemona, and her child.

  And once she figured out what was going on, she neutralized the problem as painfully as she could.

  Just because she was pissed off!

  Callen and Ethan were almost at the burger place, when his cell phone beeped. He looked down and panicked. Desdemona sent him a message.

  HURRY BACK NOW! EMERGENCY!

  “Ethan, get us back to the sheriff’s station. Something’s happened!” Whitefox held on as his brother whipped the Denali around and hit the lights. A million things were going through his mind, and he was sure his brother’s too.

  “Call them,” Ethan ordered, as he passed out all the cars in front of him. If something happened to his wife, he’d never forgive himself for leaving her alone.

  Whitefox hit dial and started calling Desdemona’s phone, and it was dumped right into voicemail. Now he furiously punched speed dial and waited for Elizabeth to answer her phone. She always answered his calls, and now the nausea was crawling up from his belly.

  “They aren’t answering, Ethan,” he said, and then stared in horror at the sheriff’s station parking lot. There were three ambulances with lights on flashing ominously. “Oh my God,” he mumbled. Every horrible thought went through his mind. Since Desdemona sent the message, he started to think something had happened to Elizabeth and the baby. This many ambulances meant something bad had happened, not a simple slip or paper cut. Whitefox began to panic, and worry about Elizabeth.

  The brothers bailed out of the Denali, charging the sheriff’s station, and searching for the rest of their team.

  Ethan was scared shitless, hoping his wife and child were safe. Running headlong down the stairs to the makeshift morgue, he rushed the door, practically knocking the sheriff off his feet. When he got close, his heart finally began beating again as he heard his wife tearing someone a new one.

  “Are you out of your fucking mind?” she yelled, pointing at the man lying on the gurney. “If I pulled my gun, you’d be going out of here in a God damned body bag! We’re the FBI; we don’t shoot to maim idiots wielding knives! When I pull the trigger I’m planning on standing over your damn body!”

  Elizabeth looked up and saw her husband and brother-in-law rush through the door.

  “What happened?” he asked, looking around. The lab was a mess, and it looked like there was a brawl.

  “Deputy Asshole decided it would be funny to hide in the cooler in a Halloween mask and fake plastic knife, trying to scare Desdemona. Then I kicked the shit out of him and could have killed him!” she said, pointing at Deputy Bobby Lee Tills.

  Both men lunged, much like rabid dogs looking to chew on a victim. The only thing that stopped them was the EMTs that blocked their patient from getting more injuries.

  “You are fucking dead,” growled Blackhawk, as he reached for the man’s throat, almost getting his hands on his neck.

  Callen glanced over at Desdemona, and she looked scared to death. He went to her, and pulled him against his body. “Are you okay, honey?” he asked, stroking her hair as she buried her face in his shoulder.

  “I think so,” she mumbled. “Elizabeth got bumped in the face during the fight and won’t let the EMT’s check her out.”

  Both men moved towards Elizabeth.

  “I’m okay,” she said, touching her lip and scowling at Doctor Adare for ratting her out. “I bit it when I caught his elbow to the chin.”

  Blackhawk touched her lower lip, and then pushed her towards his brother to keep safe, while he killed the deputy.

  Callen pulled her against his body and immediately began inspecting her lip. Since the serial killer on the Rez, both men were super protective of Elizabeth. He held both women tight and
dropped a kiss on her injured lip.

  Sheriff James Duffy interjected himself between his deputy and the FBI agent, understanding their anger. “We’ll work this out,” he said calmly, as he tried to stop Blackhawk from killing the deputy strapped to the gurney.

  “Work it out?” Blackhawk raged, looking over the shoulder of the sheriff at Bobby Lee Tills. “The man came after my pregnant wife, and in my world that means I kill him now,” he growled. “And worry about the little details later.”

  Deputy Tills jumped when Blackhawk lunged again.

  The only thing that calmed Ethan down was his wife wrapping her arms around his waist from behind. Blackhawk turned, pulling his wife into his arms to check her for any additional injuries she wasn’t telling him about. When he was sure she was unscathed, he glared over at Deputy Tills. Elizabeth had beaten the hell out of him. His face was swelling, and he looked like he had a broken nose. “I’m going to cut your fucking balls off Tills and feed them to you!” he growled, pointing at the man, as he held his wife protectively.

  “I’m sorry about this, Agents. Sincerely sorry for my deputy’s behavior, and what he’s done. It’s inexcusable, and he’ll be reprimanded. I promise.”

  “Reprimanded?” Whitefox was appalled that the sheriff thought it was going to end there. He’d tried to scare the women, and that was just unacceptable. “We both know that’s not good enough, Sheriff Duffy.”

  Desdemona clung to his side, and she was finally starting to feel her heartbeat return to normal.

  “He tried to assault two FBI agents. That’s a federal offense, and I’m going to throw in the weapons charge for shits and giggles,” added Blackhawk.

  “It was plastic,” whined Tills, “I just wanted to wipe the smug look off the bitch’s face for calling me a redneck hillbilly!” He realized it was a bad choice of words.

  Both men lunged again, but this time the women held them back.

  “I’m going to kill you after my brother does for calling her that!” Whitefox growled at the man for using derogatory words to describe Elizabeth.