Ethan trusted his wife but Callen had a very valid concern. He’d always wondered when the time would come that Elizabeth would wake up and see that she’d married beneath her. She would get mad whenever he said that, but it was his fear. Somehow, Ethan and Callen scored a gorgeous outsider, and trying to keep her was their goal. If they were horny, she was too. Add that to a young Marine, and Ethan wanted to self-medicate.
A lot.
“I checked him out. The first thing I did was pull his military records.”
Callen looked over. “I need to see them.”
Blackhawk didn't know what to do. There was the potential to make the man crazy. “Okay.” If it was him, he’d need to see too.
Hesitantly, Ethan slid the file across the desk.
Whitefox opened it and began scanning the details. Fortunately for him, the man wasn’t Native. He was young, handsome, brave, and covered in tattoos.
“Well, holy bloody kick in the balls. I was wrong. It could get worse. Our woman is being guarded by a tattoo covered soldier. Great.”
Yeah, Blackhawk thought the same damn thing. “I know.”
“This is horrible. I’m edgy, cranky, and horny as hell. Now I find out the woman we love is with another man, and he’s someone she would be attracted to. I want to punch holes in all the walls.”
Blackhawk didn't want to laugh at his brother’s discomfort, but he understood. “I hear you. I thought the same exact thing when I saw it.”
“Which was when?” Callen asked.
“Three weeks, four days, nine hours, and twenty three minutes ago,” he stated, checking his watch. Sadly, he’d been letting it eat away at him for a while.
“We need a distraction,” Callen declared.
“Like what? A rather entertaining nuclear holocaust in which there are thousands of gruesome casualties?” Ethan asked. That was about all that would get his mind off some young soldier that close to his beautiful dick magnet wife.
Yeah, he went there.
Sue him.
Callen dropped back down on the couch and tried not to think about sex or the woman he loved. “Good point.”
“Think about work.”
“I’m all caught up.”
Okay, well there had to be something. Then Ethan recalled Callen’s other love in life. “We should go hunting. Maybe killing something will drop the testosterone levels,” Blackhawk offered.
“You hate hunting.”
“That’s okay. You don’t, so I’ll go with you.”
The idea had merit. If there was something Callen liked, it was sitting in the silence of the Rez to look for a deer. Maybe it was barbaric, but he really needed to vent some of his frustration, and bloodshed, with a gun, seemed the best way. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
“We can put in for some time off and head out this Saturday morning. I’m sure that Dad will take parent duty over the weekend. He’s been bitching that he’s out of jerky.”
The idea of blowing some animal apart to forget his need to bone his woman seemed wrong, but he was desperate at that point—in more ways than one.
When Ethan’s intercom buzzed, he reached for it. “Yes, Ginny?” he asked.
“Mr. B, Elizabeth has a call on line three. It’s Doctor Magnus, and he sounds…frantic.”
That put them both on alert. Right before they sent Tony from their home to hunt down the woman of his dreams, they told him to call if there was something he needed. Ethan really hoped the younger woman didn't make a break for it. Elizabeth was the one who worked on broken hearts.
It was out of their element.
“Tony, what’s wrong?” Blackhawk asked, putting the call on speaker, so his brother could listen in.
“I have a big problem. I need Lyzee.”
“She’s not here.”
“Oh, hell. I need help!”
They could tell by the tone of his voice that this was going to be more than just a girl issue. In fact, they only had him check in weekly, and two days ago he sounded fine and in love. Everything appeared to be going smoothly.
“What happened? Are you hurt?” Callen asked, making his presence known.
“My team uncovered some bodies.”
Blackhawk relaxed. That was exactly the plan. “We know. That’s why you’re there. You retrieve, we solve. That’s how this is going down.”
There was a pause as Tony said something to someone there. He didn't sound pleased.
“No, I mean ones with flesh on them. We dug up more recent victims. I know we were expecting a mass grave of thirty year old skeletons, but the one Jaxon found today is decaying but has some flesh. There’s no way that could happen unless it’s recent.”
They got it now.
“What else?” Blackhawk added, his interest piqued.
“We used the ground penetrating radar and there are two more. I need to know what you want to do. I know that with old graves, the evidence is going to be long gone, eroded with time, but if all three bodies are still in the process of decay, we could pull evidence.”
It was the FBI’s jurisdiction.
They were funding the dig and going to be handing the evidence over to a team. That group of Feds would then work on solving it, once they were all extricated.
“Can you follow protocol by using gloves and bags?” Ethan asked.
“Yes, but it’s not going to be as pristine as if Merry did it. I’m working with academia here. These doctors have never seen a body with flesh, unless it was in a book.”
“Do your best,” Ethan offered. Glancing over at Callen, he nodded. “It looks like you got your distraction,” he offered.
Thank God!
Callen could focus on death and not the luscious curves of his pregnant woman.
Damn!
There she was again, running naked through his mind.
“We’re going to call Gabe and let him know what’s going on, then we’re going to head out. Expect Callen and myself sometime in the next few hours,” he said to his anthropologist.
“Uh, what about Elizabeth?” Tony asked. “You’re coming here without her?”
That made him laugh.
“You do realize that I’ve been an FBI agent longer than she has, and I’ve worked in the field before without her? When I was a bachelor, I was having a torrid affair with my job.”
There was silence.
“I think I can muddle along. Besides, I’m bringing Callen. He’ll have to be my sidekick.”
He grinned. “It’s cooler when she says it, Cowboy.”
Yeah, Blackhawk agreed, but they were going to have to play with the cards they were dealt.
“Just have your team of academics get the bodies out the best they can. Once we get there, the team will take over.”
Tony didn't sound thrilled.
“What?” Blackhawk asked.
“Are you sure you can’t call her up and get her here? No offense, Director, but… well…you’re not Lyzee. The tech team works better under her. They kind of stare and drool at you and Callen. You’re a distraction.”
Yeah, he probably didn't need to know that.
“I think I may pleasantly surprise you,” he offered, sending a text to the tech team. It looked like they were hopping a jet and heading to Kentucky to play in the dead bodies.
This would be the perfect distraction.
Hopefully.
“We’ll be there in a few hours. Hold down the fort,” he demanded, before hanging up.
“Yeah, that sounds better from Lyzee too,” Callen stated, grinning. “It was a nice try though.”
“I’m subpar, but what can I do?” he asked. Then he dialed Gabe’s private number, hoping to just leave a message. That way, he couldn’t deny their request to go out in the field. There was no way the man was going to be thrilled that FBI West would be without at least one director there to man the ship.
When he answered on the second ring, Ethan wanted to curse.
“Yes, Ethan?” he asked.
&nbs
p; “We have a problem,” he began, telling him everything that he knew about the fleshy body find in the pit of skeletons. The entire time, his boss said nothing.
“Okay, and?” he finally said.
“Callen and I are heading there.”
There was a pause.
Blackhawk knew what was coming. It was only a matter of time.
“Is that advisable, since you’re down a director?” Gabe asked. While Elizabeth was away, he knew the men had to be suffering. He was acting the intermediary between them. Ethan would ask about her, she would ask about them.
Despite how tough he was, Gabriel Rothschild hated to see his family suffer. Unfortunately, you sometimes had to take one for the team. Being in the FBI wasn’t a pleasure cruise.
“My paperwork is up to date, I can manage from Belleville, and Callen doesn’t have any mediating to do. Oh, and you owe us.”
It was that last part that got his attention.
“Oh, is that so?”
Ethan, while the calmest of the two FBI West directors, knew that he needed to take a direct approach on this one. “Yes. Our pregnant wife is out somewhere doing God knows what, and we need this distraction. How would you feel if you had to be away from Livy for a month with no contact?”
There was silence.
“It’s brutal, Gabe. I’m not asking for favors. When I took this position, I promised to do it to the best of my ability. I’ve done that. You promised that I could pick and choose my assignments, and right now, I need to be out working. Sitting here is hell. I think my record speaks for itself. Callen and I have to get out of here. The ghosts of Lyzee haunts the place. I can’t look at her office door without getting sick. I sit in here and picture my wife having coffee at my desk. Her laughter is gone, and FBI West is torturing both of us. All I’m asking for is this one little concession.”
He went to speak and was cut off.
“I don’t know how my unborn baby is doing, Gabe. I’ve missed a month of watching her get bigger in Elizabeth’s belly. I’ve lost things that I’ll never get back. She swears this is our last child, and I’m missing all those milestones. I need this. I’m asking you, as family, to cut me a break. Give me work to keep my mind busy and let me do my job. I’m also asking you let Callen join me, because he’s hurting too.”
“Please, Director Rothschild,” Callen pleaded. His voice said it all.
It didn't take long.
“Head out. Keep your office apprised of your location. If anything comes up—where Callen has to head out, you’ll have to let him go. The entire government is under scrutiny since the Marine murders. I can’t play favorites.”
“When have you ever?” Ethan asked almost bitterly. Elizabeth had been shot, he’d been abducted, and so had Callen.
They had shed blood for the FBI.
Now, they only wanted what was rightfully theirs.
Blackhawk needed to be out in the field.
“I’ll pass on to your wife that you’re heading out in the field. She sent me something to text to you, so expect it the second I hang up.”
Gabe was tough, but he did have a heart.
“Thank you,” Ethan stated. “I appreciate it.”
“I’m just doing my job,” Gabe said. “Close this case and make it fast,” he added, right before hanging up.
“You head home and pack for us, Cal. I’ll get the team ready, and we’ll meet at the jet.”
Just then their phones beeped.
Ethan glanced down to find two pictures. One was of his wife blowing him a kiss, the other was of her naked belly with a paper over it.
‘I miss you, Daddy.’
It brought tears to his eyes.
There weren’t many things in the world that could. Only his wife and his kids, and he’d give anything to touch his unborn child one more time.
“God, I love you so much,” he muttered, tucking his phone away as he headed out of the room. For now, he needed to be strong.
Blackhawk had no choice.
Callen watched his brother and heard his words. He knew that his message was going to make him have the same response. Glancing at his phone, he pulled them up.
One was of his woman making a heart with her fingers. He responded to the sight of her smile and simple token of love as it overwhelmed him.
Then, he saw the message.
‘I miss you, Callen. I can feel your pain from here. When you think you’re alone, close your eyes, and you’ll pick up a trace of my perfume. You’ll know I’m there. I’m always there. I promise. I live in your heart and soul, my love.’
His eyes filled with tears as he kissed the screen. “I love you, Elizabeth. Come home soon. We aren’t doing well without you. I don’t know how much longer I can bear to be away from you.”
It was the truth.
Callen needed her in the worst way.
With that, he headed to his office to grab his gun and keys. He’d go home, find their kids to show them their mommy’s picture, and get the task at hand done.
Her message gave him enough strength to get through one more day.
It was the best he could hope for, since that was all he was going to get.
One day, they’d be back together again.
Callen just needed to cling to that hope.
* * *
Tony was having a hell of a time reassuring their team. Unlike when working with the FBI, these doctors were more accustomed to academia than decaying corpses.
They weren’t panicked, but they were bordering on morbid curiosity. It was getting hard to keep them from poking at the deceased women.
He was afraid to leave the burial site because he was certain they’d be digging them up the wrong way.
Granted, he needed their help in unearthing them, but the team there was speculating on their deaths. That was going to make the FBI team insane. It was probably a good thing that Elizabeth was away on an assignment.
Then she wouldn’t kill everyone. If there was one thing about the boss lady, it was that if she had to babysit this kind of nonsense, she’d lose her damn mind. Once that happened, someone would get hurt. There would be an ass kicking of monumental proportions.
Yeah, he missed her.
Glancing over, Jaxon was doing what she did best—leading. A lot had changed in the month that they were together. She was becoming a strong leader in the field. She’d moved up through the ranks of the team, easily proving that she was damn good at her job.
He was proud.
Now, she was trying to contain them. Tony could hear her attempting to instruct them in body preservation. It was funny because not that long ago, he’d been the one teaching her. The directions were his verbatim.
My, my, it was funny how things had changed.
When she looked up, their eyes met. She immediately blew him a kiss, signally that she, too, was thinking about him.
It took everything in Tony not to return it. What he wanted to do was bounce over, swing her up in his arms to share one hell of a lip lock. Yeah, the dead bodies at her feet didn't even faze him.
That said a lot.
Over time, the FBI had numbed him from the horrors of death, and apparently it was stripping away her fears now too.
Striding over, he ran his long fingers through his black hair. This was where it was going to get ugly, and he knew it.
“The FBI is on their way,” he offered.
“Why?” the one doctor asked, standing. “We can handle this situation ourselves,” he stated.
Tony had had nothing but issues with Doctor Orlando Hertz from day one. When the man rolled out of the university, not far from the site, he’d had one hell of a chip on his shoulder. It seemed that he had been promised the dig boss job, only to have it swiped away.
Yeah, that had to suck.
For him.
Tony wasn’t surprised that it had happened. The FBI, mainly Gabriel Rothschild, had pulled strings, making the switch up late in the game. Now, the man before him was making T
ony pay with daily belligerence.
“Because we found bodies that weren’t supposed to be here, that’s a problem,” stated Tony. This wasn’t his first day working a dig. He’d done his time in college, the field, and some of the most horrific locations the FBI came across.
This was a cake walk.
He only wished that the people before him were a little bit more seasoned.
“This is university property. We should have full control of this,” Doctor Hertz stated, again strongly insisting on who he believed should remain in charge of their current mess.
Tony had heard this a million times in the last month. It was the same old song and dance, and frankly, he was getting damn tired of it.
“The FBI is footing the bill. As before, I’m in charge and under the authority of the FBI, so that’s just how it is, Doctor.”
“I should have been running this site. Your bureaucratic nightmare of an agency has made this a mess. We’re bogged down in red tape, and it’s slowing this process down.”
“Bogged down? It’s called proper procedure. We need to collect evidence. That’s our first and foremost job.”
The man snorted. “Please. This is being done wrong, and we all know it. You’ve been out of the university far too long, Tony.”
There was no doubt why the man dropped his title. It was to make him seem less competent. It was an old academic trick to make one person appear more ‘valuable’ than the other.
It pissed him off. Tony had earned his stripes in hell. If any of these classroom clowns doubted that, they should do his job for a few days. They’d be puking in their morning coffee over the horrors he had to swallow.
As Tony was getting ready to say as much, Jaxon spoke up. “Suck it up, Doctor. If this is the first time you’ve had a Federal agency take over, then you haven’t been on nearly enough digs. As for the man before you, show some respect. He’s a doctor, just like we are, and he earned his title. Use it, and don’t be a dick. Well, we all know you are one, so try to not be as big of one.”
That burr hit its mark.
The man walked away in a huff, giving her a look over his shoulder.
Dead Shall Speak (An FBI/Romance Thriller Book 10) Page 4
