Well, that was good. At least they had that. Tony was glad his wife and soon-to-be-born child were safe.
They had to be his priority over the job.
“Back to this. Tony, you will be handling the remains without much help.”
“What about Chris?” he asked.
Ethan wasn’t sure, but he pretended everything was business as usual.
“Chris will be doing the autopsy—if we can get the body from the city ME.”
“They won’t play nice?” he asked.
Kane handled this one.
“Since there was only one victim, and no one knows that O’Banion is alive, they think this is a prank or a joke. Word has spread that the FBI is trying to pull random cases.”
They all laughed.
Like they had time for shit like that. What the hell were the local cops thinking?
“We can’t say jack,” Quinn stated. “If we do…”
Yeah, they got it.
This was very serious.
“Until this proves to be serial killer material,” Kane said, “They are keeping it in-house, including the autopsy on the first woman.”
“Uh, how are we going to do our job?” Christina asked. “I need that trace.”
Oh, he was aware.
“That’s where we come in,” Quinn stated. “When the next body arrives, and we believe it will with the intel you’ve given us, we’ll be ready to hand it over. Until then, we’ll keep you in the loop. Doctor Vanbrunt is good at what he does. He may not be Christopher Leonard good, but he’s still on top of the game.”
They had no choice.
This was tied up in red tape, and sometimes, the FBI didn’t win. This was one of those cases.
“Where is Chris?” Tony asked, looking around for his buddy. “It’s not like him to be out of Autopsy One. This is his second home.”
Again, Ethan covered.
At this point, they had no idea what was going on, other than a few emails from their wife.
It was vague at best.
“He had some appointments to handle, and Elizabeth promised to tag along.”
Tony laughed.
“That had to be some appointment if the boss lady is taking that over a dead body. That’s so unlike her. Did she hit her head?”
Ethan gave a fake laugh.
“With Elizabeth, you never know.”
Oh, they knew plenty. She’d ride shotgun over a killer for only one thing—family.
Ethan continued to keep the team off her trail. While they weren’t privy, they had worked with Elizabeth long enough to know that the excuse he’d handed out would only last for so long.
The clock was ticking.
“Doctor Armstrong-Magnus will do facial reconstruction, and Agent Garrick will do the renderings, so we can find their identities.”
“Give me the clay and the skulls. I’m ready,” Jaxon offered. She didn’t want to think about her father.
It was too painful.
She wanted to help the dead.
That was her calling in life now, and she’d make her mother proud. Her father…he was going to pay for his sins, and her mother’s demise.
“They will start coming in shortly after Tony does his thing. It looks like you’ll be working the night shift on this one. We break ground at eight,” Ethan stated.
They were ready.
Willing.
Able.
“Christina, since you don’t have trace for the victim, that your husband and his partner caught today, can you start working on any trace on the bones that Tony pulls?”
“On it,” she stated. “I can do that.”
“Detectives, we need those autopsy notes. Can you head to your precinct and ride your ME? They won’t expect us to work around this like that, and that’s the only silver lining on this one. No one will suspect you’re feeding them to us.”
“And we appreciate it,” Callen added. “Thank you.”
The two detectives were overburdened with so many other cases. If the Feds wanted this mess…so be it. They could help someone else find justice.
The victim would be in good hands.
“You’re welcome,” Quinn stated. “We’ll go snoop around our ME’s morgue to see what he has. You’ll hear from us.”
Kane kissed his wife and headed out with Quinn at his side. It was time for them to do their part.
When they were gone, it was time to begin.
“Okay, team, get situated, get prepped, and be ready. Your leader will be back at the helm before you know it, and she’s cranky when an ME won’t play nice,” Ethan warned.
Oh, they were well aware.
Max Chase raised his hand again, trying to get situated. “What am I going to be doing?” he asked.
“You, Agent Stokes, and Agent Bartlett are going to start tracking Carl Fitzpatrick. Elizabeth is going to want to know where he’s been since the second he left prison. If he’s the person behind this, she’s going to need to pick up his trail. Your job, Detective, is to find that trail for her. You have until tomorrow morning when she rolls into the morgue. She’ll be ready. I hope you are too,” Ethan offered.
Everyone laughed.
They got it.
This detective was going to have to sink or swim. While he’d worked with her before, she had just been giving him busy work to keep him out of her hair.
Now he was part of her team and that was a whole other ballgame.
Alex dropped his arm over his ex-partner’s shoulders and they headed out.
It was time to take a trip back down memory lane.
As a team.
Again.
Ethan, Callen, and Gabe headed into the morgue office. Once the door was closed, Gabe knew they weren’t there for a social call. Blackhawk would want the details on the man of the hour, Michael O’Banion.
“We are working on getting him moved. I have arranged a pickup, and if everything goes right, Elizabeth will be able to do her interview tomorrow. Keep on her. I don’t like this asshole.”
Yeah, neither did they.
“We’ll watch her,” Ethan offered.
“I know you’re worried about her and will want to tag along, Ethan, but you can’t be out and about on this one. If the media sees you wandering around DC with your spouses…”
Yeah, he got it.
“I’ll keep a low profile. Callen is up for this one,” he stated, knowing everything was resting on his brother’s shoulders. Well, his and Ivan’s.
“Keep me updated. I have a meeting at the White House. I can’t wait,” Gabe said, as he headed out.
When he was gone, and the door was closed, only then did Callen speak up.
“You realize this is going to get ugly,” he stated. “I’m not all that keen on her playing protection to this mob man.”
Yeah, Blackhawk was aware.
For the record, neither was he.
“Our wife can handle this, and if she’s not watching her back, you and Ivan will. Let’s hope that O’Banion is over her. If not, make him see the error of his ways.”
Callen got it.
Ethan was telling him it was okay to make sure the message was clear.
“Oh, I will.”
Ethan knew he would.
“For now, let’s get security wrangled. They are going to have one hell of a job coming up, and I want them briefed as to what we’re going to be up against.”
“You don’t want them on her immediately?” he asked. “Really?”
“She’s with Chris. She’s safe. I want them to go over these files, even if they’re marked classified. I want them to be ready for Carl. No one is walking up to our wife and sticking a blade in her spine.”
Callen shuddered at the thought.
“I agree.”
“We have this, Cal,” his brother promised. He knew Callen had one goal. It was to get their wife to the altar next month. He’d make sure he did. What was coming in their personal life was huge, and well deserved.
“I’ll meet you for coffee after I talk to Ivan,” Callen said.
Ethan gave him a hug.
He was still thinking about their past, and how shitty he’d been. “I love you.”
Callen stayed against his brother.
“I love you too.”
They broke apart and words weren’t needed. They both knew what was going on in their minds.
For now, there was calm.
Calm before the storm.
* * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *
Hoover Building
The Same Time
Ivan was a hot mess.
He couldn’t believe that, somehow, they had lost Elizabeth. It was a nightmare for him, and he wasn’t happy.
At all.
There was no way she was in the building. Heath, Rory, and he had scoured the whole place, looking in all her normal hidey-holes.
She wasn’t there.
It was like the building swallowed her whole. He knew she wouldn’t be playing a game to torment him. Elizabeth didn’t know he was back. He wasn’t even due on the job for a couple more days.
So, that freaked him out even more.
“What do you mean you can’t find her?” he asked Rory, who was also pacing like a caged tiger.
“She said she was getting coffee, and then she slipped away. You know what she’s like. It’s like babysitting an electric eel—slippery and it will hurt you if you get too close.”
Oh, he was well aware.
It was the story of his life. It took a special kind of crazy to watch her, and to like it.
Yeah, he was certifiable.
That was the proof.
“I hate watching her,” Rory bitched. “I’m Callen’s security for a reason. You can’t miss him. He stands out in a crowded room.”
Yeah, that was the easy job, and Ivan didn’t want to hear about it. When one of them needed downtime, they covered for each other.
It was part of the job.
Rory was making excuses, and he didn’t want to hear it. Ivan was in a bitchy mood to begin with, and this…it wasn’t helping the situation.
He wanted to punch a wall because she was MIA.
Okay, to be fair, it was because Blue was angry with him. Who was he kidding? It had nothing to do with Rory losing Elizabeth.
Still, he raged on.
“Well, that’s why you hover all over her! When she’s your watch, you double down!”
Rory was done.
He’d had just about enough.
“Listen, Ivan, I have Callen. Heath has the big man. You have Elizabeth. For three weeks while you recouped and then took time for a vacation, we’ve been playing ‘find the viper’. It’s tiring, it’s a pain in the ass, and she makes it worse because she doesn’t like us.”
“You,” stated Heath from his chair across the room where they waited for the Blackhawks to roll out. “Mrs. B. happens to love me. She gave me cookies the other day, and she bought me lunch.”
“What the hell?” Rory stated. “She doesn’t freaking buy me lunch! I can’t even get her to look at me.”
And that said it all.
“She plays mental games,” Ivan stated to make the man feel better. She bought him lunch all the time, and she’d sent him a get-well basket full of candy.
It was clear who she didn’t like in the room.
“You have to stay on your toes.”
“YOUR toes, Ivan! She’s yours. Welcome back early. You are supposed to come back Sunday, but you get the queen eel. I’m back on Callen. I can always find him, he doesn’t try to fuck with me, and no one shoots at him!”
“Has someone shot at her?” he asked in horror. “Has that happened?” he asked.
“No,” Heath said, shining his gun. “She’s been in-house for days. Something is coming. It’s like that day we rolled into Kandahar.”
Oh, he remembered it well.
The whole mission went to shit the following day. There were ambushes, firefights, and he’d nearly died when an IED went off.
“Oh, holy hell.”
“Yeah, it’s not so much fun, now is it?” Rory asked. “Welcome back. The viper queen is all yours.”
“She’s not that bad,” Ivan stated.
Heath conferred. “I personally love Mrs. B.”
Rory pointed at him. “Kiss ass.”
“Hey, just because she lets me call her that, and not you, is NOT my fault. Mrs. B. is a sweetheart.”
“I’m with Heath,” Ivan stated.
“Well, then you two watch her. I’m off of this suicide mission.”
Someone cleared their throat from the doorway. When the three men looked over, there stood Ethan and Callen.
Oh, shit.
They’d been talking about their wife.
This was bad timing.
“Sirs,” Ivan said, standing at attention. It was an old habit, and he couldn’t help it. Blackhawk was the general, and Callen his right-hand man when Elizabeth wasn’t around.
“Ivan, welcome back. I see the viper disappeared,” Ethan said, making sure they knew he and Callen had heard them.
Rory flushed.
“Sir, I meant that in the nicest way possible. Your wife…”
“Would kick your ass for calling her ‘your wife’ not a viper,” Ethan reminded him. “She doesn’t dislike you, Rory, but she’s like a wolf. She senses fear, and you are terrified of her. Heath wants to carry her around in his pocket,” he began.
“Is that an option?” the big man asked. “I’d love her and hug her and…”
“NO,” Callen said, trying not to laugh. Heath amused Elizabeth, and that was why she let him get away with shit. The way to her heart was right through her funny bone.
“As I was saying, Ivan isn’t afraid of her. He stands up to her. You show fear. When dealing with Elizabeth, if you back up, she’s going to steal that ground until you shit yourself or freak out.”
Oh, Rory was damn aware.
“Anyway, welcome back, Ivan. I hope that you’re refreshed,” he began.
Ivan knew what that meant.
Elizabeth was riled up and this was the proof. He was going to be working his ass off for this mission.
“Yes, sir,” Ivan stated. “I’ll find her.”
Callen was amused. He knew his wife only screwed with them out of boredom. Well, and that she loved flustering three grown men—each in their own way.
It was a way to pass the time.
“When was she last seen?” Ivan asked.
“When Doctor Leonard left the building,” Ethan offered, trying to see which one would figure it out first.
“Did anyone check with him?” Ivan asked, nailing it on his first try.
“Phones are off,” Rory stated.
“She’s not at the fort, so she has to be with him,” Ivan stated. “He has that unsecured location. He’s supposed to have security. Where is his guy?”
“He was never notified he was leaving the building. Normally, he tells him. Jace doesn’t have to play this game. Chris is like clockwork. He leaves the fort before seven, and he’s at the office until they all head home,” Rory stated.
“And you didn’t think that maybe, just maybe, her unpredictability may have rubbed off on him?” he asked. “She’s like a virus,” Ivan stated.
Then he realized what he’d said.
“A good virus that makes you happy.”
Both Ethan and Callen laughed.
That was a stretch, and they were happily married to her. Elizabeth would be amused by all of this.
“Well, you can stop worrying about her location,” Ethan offered. “We know that she’s with Chris.”
Ivan gave Rory the look.
He should have figured this out on his own.
“I’ll go.”
Ethan stopped him.
“Hold off on that.”
They all looked at him like he was three days short of a calendar. That did NOT sound like Ethan Blackhawk. Normally, he
wanted them all over her.
“We have a bigger issue right now.”
“What?” they all asked at the same time. What the hell could be bigger than Elizabeth running amuck in DC without a guard? That was the worst-case scenario.
“We have a new job for you three.”
Oh, Ivan didn’t like this one.
“What?”
“Rory and Heath, you have protective duty but not for us. Callen will be fine since he’ll be buddied up with our wife. Heath, I have two other guys to rotate you out with, and I’ll mostly be in the Hoover building.”
Well, that didn’t sound good.
Rory couldn’t imagine it would be worse. He prayed Blackhawk wouldn’t say Elizabeth.
“Who are we guarding?” he asked hesitantly.
“Michael O’Banion.”
“The dead mob man?” Rory asked, his eyes going huge. “You want us to watch him?”
“Yes.”
“I’m on corpse duty? What the fuck?”
Then again, at least he wouldn’t have to risk his life to keep track of him.
“Well, he’s actually alive and in witness protection. You will be keeping an eye on him while we’re doing this investigation. He’s in danger.”
“I have no words,” Rory stated.
“Okay, Mr. B. I’m in,” Heath said.
“And that’s why he gets cookies,” Callen added. “He’s always happy.”
“I’m not pissing in a tent with scorpions, and I don’t have sand mites all over me. This is a cushy gig, even if I have to watch some cuckoo.”
Ethan laughed.
“You may be my favorite,” he teased.
“HEY!” the other two men said.
“I’ll get you some cookies for your watch.”
Heath cracked his knuckles and grinned his big toothy smile.
“Today is a really shitty day,” Rory stated.
Ivan found that funny as hell.
“I get the viper and you get a killer mob man. Well, that sounds like a total downgrade to me. I bet you wish you hadn’t lost her now.”
Callen laughed.
“I hate my life,” Rory stated.
Ethan got them caught up on what was happening and why they needed their help. They needed people they could trust, and these three men were good at keeping a low profile.
Dead are Forgotten Page 15
