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

by Kelley, Morgan

  Words weren’t needed between them. They never were when the bond was as tight as the one they shared. Elizabeth simply nodded, smiling gently. She touched her own heart as a reply for Callen.

  His whole body clenched.

  “Anyone want to tell me what the killer spilled before I had to end his life?”

  Whitefox replayed everything that Desdemona managed to pull from him as they were talking. The one thing that was completely evident was the man was insane.

  “You both came close on this one,” added Julian Littlemoon.

  Whitefox knew how true those words were. He released Desdemona to go to his sister-in-law. “Lyzee,” he said, opening his arms and hugging the woman that just saved them. He buried his face in her hair and whispered low enough that only she would hear his words. “I love you more than anything in this world. You’re my angel for sure.”

  Elizabeth looked up and patted his cheek. “I love you too, Cal.”

  “How did you find us?” asked Whitefox, taking Desdemona back in his arms, because she was shaking violently.

  “Well, Desdemona left me a bunch of clues,” she said, standing to block the view of the dead man on the floor. Doctor Adare looked like she was barely holding together. “And one very important one,” she said, holding up her trigger finger.

  It was poetic and it wasn’t missed by Callen Whitefox that Elizabeth, the heir apparent to their family, had possession of the family ring again. It was sitting protectively on her trigger finger. The finger she used to end the killer’s life and give them back theirs. His heart clenched in his chest at the sight of it on her hand, and he met her eyes again. He knew the truth deep in his heart and from the look in her eyes, so did she.

  “It looks better on you, Desdemona,” she said never looking away from her brother-in-law, as she slipped it off her finger to give back to Whitefox. When he couldn’t keep his eyes locked on hers, the little niggling doubt almost overwhelmed her. “I was just keeping it safe for you.”

  “Elizabeth, thank you!” Tears filled her eyes as she looked down at the ring.

  “I knew Desdemona wouldn’t leave that family heirloom lying on an exam table, so it led me to the printouts that led me to putting the final pieces together. Randy was the killer, the dead woman corpse was his girlfriend, and he obviously had lost his damn mind.”

  Callen took the ring from her hand, briefly clutching Elizabeth’s hand in his, and his other going to her cheek. The love he felt was overwhelming. He knew why she was on top of the family totem, and he’d never doubt the woman again.

  “Let’s get you guys out of this room, call in the tech team, and let me call Ethan. Right now he’s pulling out all that very sexy hair of his worried that I’ve gotten in trouble.”

  Whitefox snorted.

  “Ethan is going to kick my ass. I was supposed to be keeping you out of trouble,” muttered Whitefox, sheepishly. “My bad,” he said, leading them out of the garage.

  “Hey, I was supposed to keep her safe,” replied Julian Littlemoon. “Wow double duty. He must think you’re a menace to your own wellbeing.”

  Elizabeth shook her head. “Do I need to point out the irony on this one, boys?”

  Both men laughed.

  Elizabeth shook her head, and pulled out her phone. “Oh he better not have sicked you two on me as babysitters.”

  “I mean…” started Julian Littlemoon, trying to cover for his Native friend.

  “When I get my hands on Mr. Sexy Hair, I am so going to kick his ass.”

  Elizabeth called for the tech team, an ambulance and a back-up ME from the next town over. Then she took one for the team and called Sheriff Duffy to alert him as to what was happening. After some loud screaming into the phone from his end, she dialed her husband.

  “Elizabeth!” he answered on the first ring.

  “Hey sexy. I’m free for that phone sex now if you’re up to it?” she teased laughing, as she walked away from everyone else to have the talk with her husband.

  “Jesus Christ, are you okay?” Ethan Blackhawk demanded, his voice filled with panic. “Where are you?”

  “I’m fine, and I just found your brother and Desdemona,” she said, trying to soothe his nerves. “I’m chilling in the den of insanity at the killer’s house.”

  “And the killer?”

  “Tax payers are going to be happy.” Elizabeth’s voice held no emotion. If anything she was really good at de-compartmentalizing and now she had to, since she almost lost Callen to a killer. Oh, yeah and the woman he was marrying, even though he obviously had doubts. Apparently, there was still a mess on the horizon that was going to need clean up. Hopefully it wouldn’t require a gun or could wait until after maternity leave.

  Ethan sighed. The last two hours of his life were a giant string of knots wrapped around his throat and chest, squeezing the life from him. “What happened?”

  Elizabeth briefed him on everything that she discovered herself and all the information that Whitefox had shared with her moments ago. “I’m going to be tied up here wrapping up the paperwork, and then the sheriff. I already called for an ME from the next town over. Doctor Adare can’t handle this one.”

  “No problem on the ME, I’ll follow up on my drive back,” said her husband. “I imagine the sheriff isn't happy with you.”

  “He’s en route, and he was downright pissed. Seems he recanted his statement about not wanting to know and just let us handle it. Funny how that changed when he heard his brother was the fruit loop doing the killing. Apparently I’m fucking out of my mind, on a witch hunt from the start, and really shitty at my job.”

  Blackhawk knew it was going to get ugly. “Does he know he’s dead?”

  “Not yet. We’re waiting on a new ME to pronounce him. I don’t want to make Desdemona look at him. It was a pretty ugly face shot. I’ll have Callen and Doctor Adare get checked out by the ambulance crew when they arrive.”

  “Be careful and if he touches you I’m going to kill him.”

  Elizabeth softened her voice, knowing this had to be horrible for him to live through. “I’m good baby. You know how much I love my gun and how effective it can truly be. I’ll see you back at the house.”

  “Elizabeth, we are so going to have a conversation about how damn reckless and dangerous you are. I have serious concerns when my six month pregnant wife is stalking killers in the snow.”

  Elizabeth Blackhawk laughed. “Oh, we’re going to have a conversation too, Cowboy, starting with having your brother babysit me like I’m an invalid. See how that all worked out? I think Callen needs the babysitter.”

  Blackhawk sighed. “He’s not going anywhere without me for a long time either.”

  “Then we’re going to finish up the conversation with you having Julian Littlemoon babysit me too.”

  “Well hell.”

  “Oh, it’s going to be,” she said, before clicking off her phone, grinning.

  Three hours later

  Blackhawk rushed into the kitchen of the house they were temporarily renting, and found his family sitting at the table eating pizza. His wife was perched on the counter, grinning at him as he charged the door. He strode towards her, the look of sheer panic leaving his eyes, as he saw she was in one piece. Driving back to Red River was a bitch, it was snowing, the roads were bad, and he was worried about his wife, child, and family.

  “You are done in the field, Elizabeth Renee Blackhawk,” he whispered, taking her face in the palms of his hands and gazed deep into the icy blue. “Do you hear me?”

  Elizabeth laughed. “I hear you, Boss.” She saluted him and then accepted his very welcoming kiss.

  Both men in the room started whistling, as the kiss was very telling about how happy Ethan was to see his wife.

  Finally he broke away. “I think you’re the scariest woman in the world,” he admitted. “You’ve no sense of self-preservation.”

  “Oh, well next time your brother and his fiancée get themselves abducted, I’ll casuall
y weigh the pro to con risk ratio before making a decision,” she retorted, laughing. “Then maybe have a coffee and ponder if you’ll be in a tizzy before I save them.”

  Callen laughed. “Uh, trust me when I say, there will not be a next time!”

  Desdemona heartedly agreed. “I can’t do this again,” she said. “I have no idea how you two handle the stress of it all. We’re done risking our lives with field work.” She wasn’t kidding; they were going to be discussing a safer job for Callen when they got home.

  Whitefox didn’t miss what she said; he just opted to ignore it until they were alone. He just became an FBI agent, and he wasn’t giving it up because of one assignment.

  “Is everything at the scene handled, Boss?” he asked his wife.

  “Tech team is currently sweeping the house and the ME is working on the autopsy. Ethan honey, this isn't my first rodeo. I do know how to run a crime scene. I’m pregnant not the tribe idiot.”

  “Good one, Lyzee,” Whitefox laughed, giving her the fist bump. “A double one is very impressive.”

  Elizabeth winked at him.

  Blackhawk took off his coat and threw it over a chair. “I really think I need a vacation, and you’re coming with me too. The stress of all your antics are going to kill me.”

  “Well, it wasn’t all me. You can thank my back up partner for the escapade, Mr. Littlemoon,” said Elizabeth, directing her husband’s attention at the man leaning against the wall with a beer and a slice of pizza.

  Littlemoon watched the other Blackhawk storm into the room, and kiss his wife and it made him smile. The woman wasn’t exactly a weak scared creature needing protection. He suspected that Elizabeth Blackhawk was tough and well trained. She’d taken that killer down with one clean shot, and still wasn’t flinching about it. He was right. She was definitely feisty.

  Blackhawk walked over to him and shook his hand. “You ever need anything, you just call me. It’s done.”

  “Well, Ethan,” she interjected and then paused. “Sheriff Duffy is a tad bit upset, as you can imagine. We, meaning me, killed the conductor of the crazy train, and he’s kind of holding a wicked grudge against anyone involved. He thinks I shouldn’t have shot his mentally deranged brother, even though he was in the act of strangling Dr. Adare. So he’s proclaimed it open season on anyone involved, including my back up Native American partner here. He can’t touch us, because we’re the Feds, but he’s already looking for payback to his deputy.”

  “He can kiss my ass,” answered Blackhawk.

  “Ethan! Not in front of the baby!” Everyone started laughing.

  Blackhawk turned and grinned at his wife. “Did he give you a hard time?”

  Whitefox answered for her. “Oh you could say that he tried.”

  “Is he dead?”

  Julian Littlemoon laughed this time.

  Elizabeth figured she’d tell him now and spare him from reading it in the report later. “No, but when he tried to storm the crime scene and push past me I may have had to get physical with him. But really I was just a little physical and nothing too bad.”

  Ethan stared at his wife. “He put his hands on you?”

  Callen laughed. “He tried, and then your wife flipped him into a snow bank after she sucker punched him right in the face.”

  Now it was time for Desdemona to join in. “It wasn’t until he got up and called her some unflattering names that he really got his ass handed to him.”

  “I’m glad you kicked his ass.” Blackhawk pulled his jacket back on. “I’m going to go kill him, I’ll be right back.”

  Elizabeth laughed, hopping off the counter and stopping him. “I didn’t hand him his ass. Your brother did. When Callen heard him call me the names, he may have roughed him up a little bit.”

  “A little bit?”

  “I may have punched him again but this time in the mouth. I’m claiming post-traumatic stress disorder,” he said, winking at Elizabeth. “Besides we found the tooth in the snow and they can probably stick it back in the hole. I was offended and defending Elizabeth and my nephew’s honor.” And he always would for as long as he lived. His eyes met Elizabeth’s and again they shared their own silent conversation.

  Ethan took the coat back off. “Thanks, Cal.”

  His brother nodded. He’d always defend her, because she mattered to him on a very deep, private level.

  “Anyway, as we were saying, he’s gunning for everyone in this room, and can only really touch Julian.”

  Ethan glanced over at Julian Littlemoon. “Do you need a job? If so, you’re hired.”

  “Yeah, I’m not really FBI material,” he said, grinning. “But you can subcontract me. I think I’m going to go private and be my own boss for a while. Unless I get to be Elizabeth’s partner again,” he said, nodding at the woman with nothing but respect.

  Elizabeth snorted.

  “I like feisty and she is certainly that and much more. Wicked right hook on your woman there, Director Blackhawk. Duffy never saw it coming or the flip into the snow bank. Very feisty and extremely hot to watch going down.”

  Callen agreed and got an elbow from Desdemona.

  “What?” he demanded, looking over.

  “Don’t encourage her. She’s a pregnant woman and shouldn’t be doing crazy things,” stated Desdemona.

  Callen was going to inform her that the crazy things saved their lives, but Elizabeth placed her hand on his shoulder, just over her tattoo and ran her fingers through his hair. The tension drained from his body at her touch.

  Ethan redirected the subject, feeling the tension building. “If you change your mind, Julian, there’s a place for you working for us.”

  “Thanks for the offer, but I definitely have to decline for now.”

  “Now, there’s the smartest man in the room,” quipped Elizabeth, and she laughed when her husband looked over at her, as he gave her the look.

  “Julian is the only damn person here with enough sense to not sell his soul to the FBI.”

  Wasn’t that the truth?

  ~ Epilogue ~

  Three Months Later

  “Ethan Jackson Blackhawk I swear to God, if I survive this, I am never having any more children until you pony up and do the next one,” she said, breathing through clenched teeth. The pain was more than she’d ever thought she could feel at one time. Elizabeth Blackhawk was tough. She’d been shot twice, survived a serial killer abducting her and a lunatic masquerading as a woman hacking men apart to rebuild his twisted view of his lost love, but this could very well be her breaking point.

  Childbirth wasn’t for the weak.

  “Come on baby! You’re almost there. Keep breathing,” whispered her husband, as he held her hand and watched the miracle unfolding before him, as his wife gave life to their child. Never in his life had he loved another person more. Here she was giving him something he never thought he’d have- a family of his own.

  Ethan had been sitting behind his desk working on paperwork when his wife walked into his office. Just the look on her face scared the hell out of him. When she said it was time, he barely had been able to think. He grabbed his gun and keys and rushed her right to the hospital. On the way out of the office, he was going to carry her, and she objected but all of their agents cheered and wished them well. There was even an escort with lights flashing. Before he knew it, the calls started, the alert had been sent out, and the news was traveling around their circle. Baby Blackhawk was on his way, and everyone was eagerly anticipating his arrival.

  “I’m trying,” she said, as the next contraction started.

  “Elizabeth, start pushing,” said the doctor, sitting patiently between her legs.

  She obeyed, only because she didn’t have her gun and couldn’t shoot her husband for putting her in this position. Well, that and she wanted this monster sized child out of her body. NOW!

  As she squeezed his hand, his heart skipped in his chest, as he looked down, and saw his son, almost ready to enter the world. “Baby, I�
�m so proud of you,” he whispered, and tears filled his eyes. “You can do this,” he cheered her on, and when her icy blue eyes met his midnight blue ones, everything around them stopped, and they focused only on each other.

  They were partners, even in this.

  Elizabeth blocked the searing pain out, and looked into the soul of the man she loved more than anything in her life. This man may have knocked her up, and put her in this position, but she knew she’d do it over and over again, just to see that look on his face. That pure happiness of having the life he always wanted and never dared to believe could be his.

  He wiped her brow, and she closed her eyes.

  “I will find you the biggest, meanest, bacon cheeseburger this side of the states, if you push this baby out and give me my son,” he offered, softly in her ear.

  There was no acknowledgement. Just her even breathing as she knew the next wave of pain was coming and she was to the point of exhaustion. There should be an easier way to do this, and some woman should think it up, because this was brutal. How the bloody hell had her best friend Livy done this six times? This was why Gabe bought her jewelry on Mother’s Day, and she had news for her husband, so was he. This was diamond worthy! Big, fat, shiny ring worthy in her book.

  The nurse looked over at the machine, and gave her the warning. “Here comes the next one, and it’s going to be huge.”

  “Great,” muttered Elizabeth. Again, she opened her eyes and stared into the eyes of her one true love, and began to push. She started to hear him counting for her, and on three she lost tract of the numbers, blocking it all out, as she found some deep inner strength that she didn’t believe even existed. As her husband hit seven, she felt the pressure stop, and the sounds came crashing back. There was her husband, staring in awe, there was the doctor congratulating her, and finally there were the screams of a newborn.