“I wanted to ask her out, but I’m not good with girls. I try to talk to them, but I get all sweaty and confused.”
“You're talking to me.”
“You’re not a girl. You’re pregnant.”
Ethan tried not to laugh. “Son, you’re digging a hole. You should stop now.”
“Just by being pregnant kind of proves that I am biologically a girl,” she stated. “Did you notice anyone bothering her?”
“No, but men are dicks. They’d come in here, flirt, embarrass her, and leave. I hated going out to deliver pizzas. I didn't want to leave her here alone.”
She watched him. “Do you recognize this guy?” Elizabeth asked, having a hunch. Pulling out Russell Beston’s photo, she watched him scan it.
“Yeah, he’s one of the dicks. He’s in here a lot. He orders a large pie with pineapple and ham.”
“Did he ever do anything inappropriate toward her?”
“Yeah, he looked at her like she was a snack. He’s a total dick. I wouldn’t be shocked if he hurt her.”
That was curious.
“Why do you say that?”
“He was always trying to get her to leave with him for sleazy sex. Bonnie wasn’t like that. She’s the kind of girl you bring home to meet your parents. You know...the marrying kind.”
Clark Phillipe returned carrying a disk. “I don’t have copies of this. It’s the original. I’ll need it back.”
Blackhawk took it and reassured him, “You’ll get it back. We’ll make a copy.”
Lenny looked nervous. “You’re going to find her, right?” he asked.
“Yeah, we will,” she stated. “Plus, we’re going to find the man who took her.”
Outside, Elizabeth paused. “What are the chances she survives this?” she inquired.
Blackhawk had to think about that. “With this killer, he’s going to be easily angered. If Bonnie plays nice and tries to stay alive, she’s going to. He has an ultimate goal. It’s to continue on his family legacy.”
She was grossed out by that. “He’s a sick fuck.”
Blackhawk didn't disagree. “If she makes an escape, he’s going to hurt her. If she stays, bides her time, and tries to make him happy, we’ll find her alive.”
Elizabeth wished there was a way to tell Bonnie that. For now, she had to hope the woman had the perseverance to stay calm and fight for her life. Granted, it would be hell, but you only got one shot at living.
“Where to now?”
“I know we told Callen we were coming right back, but I need to see her home. Maybe there’s something there.”
He completely understood.
“I’ll send Callen a text message. You can drive.”
She headed toward their Denali, already thinking about her next step in the game. There were bells going off in her head. Something was wrong.
She could feel it.
There was a piece that didn't fit.
Only she was too distracted to see it.
The stress was definitely getting to her.
* * *
Salem, SC
The trip had taken twice as long as he planned. When Jagger suspected they had been compromised, he made sure to take the long way there. Halfway through the trip, he spotted a tail. Knowing that Elizabeth Blackhawk wouldn’t have him followed, he assumed the worst.
So, Jagger did what the military taught him.
He disappeared, taking the woman beside him along for the ride. The first stop they made was to get her a disguise. It was hard to miss Avalon Miller.
There was all that blonde white hair that gave her away. So, he’d gotten her a wig, some clothes that made her look a decade older, and they were set.
If he didn't know it was her, he would be oblivious to her identity.
In all honesty, he couldn’t wait until this assignment was over. Jagger was worried about their safety, and his sister’s. What he wanted to do was call her up and check in, but he knew better. As of right now, he had two burner phones left, and he couldn’t risk using it to contact anyone but Elizabeth Blackhawk.
Shortly, he was going to have to check in, but first he wanted to check out his surroundings.
When she had offered up their summer home, he was skeptical. That seemed like a likely place to run, but maybe that would work to their advantage. Hopefully, she had laid down enough groundwork to buy him some time.
There were other safe houses available, but unfortunately, they were just as easily found. This house might give them a night or two of peace, especially since the tail believed they were heading west.
For now, Jagger believed they were safe.
Walking around the house, he found a bedroom and gave it to Avalon. She would be more comfortable in there. It was pink, girly, and not near the stairs. If someone was coming into the house and up to the second floor, he would be in the first room.
That was his plan.
They would then be dead.
As he wandered the living room, he found pictures on the mantle. They appeared to be relatively new, so someone had been there recently. In them, Elizabeth Blackhawk had short hair, while in ones where she was younger her hair was longer.
Picking up the one photo, he curiously stared at her with the two men. They both had their arms wrapped around her. He wondered which one was her husband.
From behind him, he could hear the one telltale creak of the wooden stairs.
“Are you hungry?” he asked, hoping the woman had been right and the place was fully stocked. He couldn’t remember when he ate last, or Avalon for the matter either.
“Yes, I am.”
He had to admit, the woman didn't complain. She was quiet, peaceful, and didn't bitch and moan at all. That was the highlight of this assignment.
“Okay. I’ll check out the kitchen.”
He watched her navigate the furniture with ease. It boggled his mind.
“For someone who can’t see, you certainly have a great ability to sense the space around you,” he admitted.
“Thank you, I think,” Avalon replied.
“Are you really blind or is this an act?”
She glanced over her shoulder and toward his voice. “I have some peripheral vision, but in front of my face, I don’t see well at all.”
“Then how do you always seem to pick things up?” Just that morning, he’d forgotten that she couldn’t see, and he held a paper coffee cup out to her. She didn't spill a drop.
“The mind’s eye is a miraculous thing, plus, I’ve had years of practice. I could smell the coffee you were giving me.”
It freaked him out that he’d just been thinking that and she knew his thoughts. Jagger had to let it go, or it would make him crazy. Like a good soldier, he wasn’t going to question it.
He was simply going to do his damn job.
Digging through the pantry, he continued the conversation, “Hey, whatever you say.”
She was used to being scoffed at. It was how her life as Oracle started. Then, when she’d proved them wrong, they made her a prisoner to her gift.
“Your father is a horrible man.”
Yes, she promised Elizabeth. So sue her.
“Your sister is all you love in life.”
He didn't bat an eyelash. “Yeah? So?”
Apparently, he missed her using the present tense regarding his father. It was probably a good thing. Avalon let her anger and frustration get the best of her. After all, she was only human.
“You still think of your mother every day when you wake up. She haunts your dreams.”
He stopped moving. “I’m a Marine, Ms. Miller. I’ve seen scarier things than someone who’s been briefed on my past. Nothing you’ve told me is something that you couldn’t have been clued in on.”
“Who told me about your dreams and your mother, Jagger? Who would know?”
She had a point.
“I’m not afraid,” he stated.
With that, she turned and stared at him with pale, vacant eyes
. “You should be. What’s coming is bad. You need to be ready, and pray we all survive.”
She said no more.
Instead, she left him there holding a can of soup.
“Well, shit!” he muttered. Jagger Armstrong couldn’t wait to contact Elizabeth. For the first time in the five weeks they’d been on the lam, he actually missed her.
Who would have known?
* * *
Bonnie Anston’s Home
It was easy to measure the woman by her surroundings. Their next victim’s home was immaculate. It was also simple and spoke volumes about her.
In the bedroom, there were still stuffed animals on the bed. There was a big brown bear that looked greatly worn and beat down.
Elizabeth immediately pictured Bonnie as a child dragging it around. Her heart ached for the woman. She could only imagine how hard of a time she was having.
The entire way there, Ethan had been very quiet.
This case had to be hard on him. Whenever she found him deep in thought, his cheek would twitch at the stress. There was no doubt that he was thinking about his own abduction.
“I can do this alone. Why don’t you head back to FBI West?”
He started laughing at the absurdity of that one sentence. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen in my lifetime.”
Before she could continue, he stared into her eyes. “I won’t lie. It still freaks me out. It’s better, but it still lives in me.” Ethan didn't have to tell her what ‘it’ was. He knew Elizabeth would figure it out.
She held out her hand and was grateful when he took it. Elizabeth realized that it was more for her than him.
“We can do this, Mrs. Whitefox-Blackhawk,” he stated.
“Want to dig through her drawers with me?” Elizabeth inquired. “You can be my perverted sidekick.”
He laughed. “Yeah, baby, I do.”
They began digging through Bonnie’s life. Normally, Elizabeth got a kick out of the things that people hid in their bedrooms. After all, she knew what was in hers.
The men in her life were bad boys.
As they pulled out drawers, searched under the mattress, one thing became clear.
Bonnie Anston was a saint.
There weren’t even sexy panties in her drawers.
“Wow, I feel like I’m the village whore.”
Blackhawk started laughing. He found that funny. His wife was far from that, but he got what she meant. Callen liked leather, and he liked lace. They’d used handcuffs more than a few times to play some sexy games.
“Yeah, but you’re our whore.”
She stared at him. “Seriously? You’re supposed to say I’m your virginal wife, as pure as the fallen snow.”
He pointed at her baby bump.
“Point taken.”
Just as he was about to add more, something touched his leg.
Ethan jumped.
Elizabeth pulled her gun and looked around. “What?”
“There’s something under the bed.”
She looked at him like he was crazy.
“It touched me,” he whispered. In his head, he pictured some maniac under there, or a dead body. Being a Fed gave you crazy visuals like that.
Getting down, Elizabeth peeked under the dust ruffle. There sat the largest cat she’d ever seen. “Yeah, you’re safe. It’s just Bonnie’s pet.” Holstering her weapon, she reached under and pulled him out.
Scratching him behind the ears, Elizabeth grinned. “You screeched like a girl, Mr. Blackhawk.”
Ethan went to protest when Elizabeth did the same thing.
“Shit! He bit me!” she said, dropping him on the bed.
Blackhawk laughed.
“Before you say it, I am a girl.”
He shut up.
“This place is clean. Tomorrow morning, we’ll have the tech team sweep her car. It’s locked down at the pizza place. I doubt she got into it, but let’s not skip over anything. That’s how mistakes are made.”
He sent Merry a text giving her tomorrow’s job before anything else.
“Want to help me toss the kitchen?” she asked. “We should probably feed that miserable cat. Although, it would serve him right if we didn’t. Really, he could stand to lose about ten pounds.”
The cat meowed.
“Yeah, fatty. I was talking to you.”
Blackhawk shook his head. “You are definitely a dog person.”
“Hell yeah, I am.”
* * *
Morgue
Late Afternoon
They were waiting on the coroner from the next town over to show up for the body. As directed, they were in lockdown inside the concrete morgue. Possibly, for the first time, no one was talking. Instead, it was eerily silent as they all waited to see if something bad was going to happen.
If it wasn’t bad enough, they were locked down with dead bodies, which normally wouldn’t faze them. Unfortunately, there was now the unseen potential danger outside that had them freaked out. Earlier, when Agents Seaton and Madden knocked on the door, it scared the hell out of them. After letting them in, the door was promptly sealed shut. To say they were paranoid would be an understatement. There was no way they were leaving the building until their boss showed up.
To ignore her gut feelings or directives would be just plain stupidity on their behalf. Elizabeth had that uncanny gift of predicting when bad shit was on the horizon.
“I hate this,” muttered Jaxon. “I feel like we’re waiting for the next shoe to drop.”
Tony pulled her close, protectively placing her under his arm. “I know, Jaxy. Just hang in there. We’ll head back after this and get something to eat.”
She couldn’t wait.
This was torture.
Chris decided to break the monotony. “So, Tony, when are you and Jaxon tying the knot?”
He smiled down at her. “Soon, I hope.”
She shook her head. “No way.”
He went tense.
Pulling away, she stared up into his aqua eyes. “If you think I’m eloping, you’re out of your mind. That’s not happening.”
That had been exactly his plan. He was about to protest, when she continued.
“I want a white dress, flowers, and a giant cake with us on the top. I’m only doing this once, so it’s going to be epic. I want all your friends there. I want to feel like a princess. After the ‘I dos’ I want to party with all our co-workers.”
Immediately, he relaxed. For a second there, he was convinced she was going to back out. “If that’s what you want, then that’s what you’ll get.”
She hugged him. “It may not be for a few months, Tony. Is that okay?”
When she said no to eloping, he had planned on pulling off a miracle and getting it done sooner rather than later. “Exactly how far off in the future do you plan on pushing this back?”
Jaxon’s eyes filled with tears. “Jagger has to be there. He’s walking me down the aisle. I can’t get married without my brother. He’s my only family, Tony.”
That’s all he had to hear. There was no doubt how much that meant to her.
“Then we wait until he’s free.” For her, he’d wait a million years if it meant protecting Jaxon’s heart.
If this was all his bride-to-be wanted, so be it.
Chris grinned at his friend. “If you want, you can have it in my back yard. Unless haunted mausoleums freak you out. I can keep the witch away.”
Jaxon was confused.
Tony explained that his ‘back yard’ was an actual estate. Chris Leonard was loaded.
She was touched by his generous offer. “Thank you, Chris,” she said, giving the man a kiss on his cheek. “I can’t wait to meet your wife.”
Tony’s heart skipped. Two of the most important people in his life were playing nice. It was a damn good day for him. Well, minus Elizabeth almost dying, the dead sheriff, oh and his brother being a serial killer.
Maybe good wasn’t the right word.
“Where are you
going to live?” Merry asked. Until then, she remained silent, watching the interaction between her co-workers. It was good to see that the earlier tension had passed.
Tony braced for it. This was going to be the hardest part. He knew Jaxon loved what she did, and he did too. This was where he assumed the worst would come to light.
“Well, I was thinking about writing a paper about this entire case. I think it’s time I worked on publishing in the journals. So, I think I can do it from Tony’s place.”
His heart quaked. “Our place. It’s always been ours. I was just waiting for you to show up.”
All the female techs sighed.
Chris laughed as they kissed. “Was I this bad?”
The people in the room, who’d been around for his romance with Cyra, began laughing.
Tony replied. “You were a million times worse.”
Chris was about to say something when there was pounding on the door.
“Oh, shit,” muttered Jaxon, moving closer to his side. “It sounds like Elizabeth was right. They appear to be angry.”
Chris headed toward the door. He didn't need to ask who it was. He could hear them shouting outside.
“We have some angry deputies,” he whispered.
Brody stepped forward. “Do you want us to go out and handle it?” he asked. While he didn't want to take Johanna out there, he was well aware that she could hold her own. They would have the best chance at defusing the situation.
“No. We’re not going out, and they aren’t getting in. Elizabeth was crystal clear on that.”
The pounding intensified.
“Open up! This is the sheriff’s department!”
The only saving grace was that they had a steel door and it had a bar. They weren’t getting in, but then again, they weren’t getting out.
“What should we do?” asked Merry. For the first time since working for the FBI, she was worried.
Tony and Chris looked at each other.
“Call the Blackhawks.”
~ Chapter Eighteen ~
Dead Shall Speak (An FBI/Romance Thriller Book 10) Page 48
