He went with it.
She shook it and smiled.
“I like the name, Maximus. We call our S.W.A.T. ride that. It delivers ‘Maximus’ damage.”
He grinned.
It was hard not to notice how gorgeous she was, and her peculiar lavender eyes were sexy.
“Thank you for letting me join you. It’s a pleasure to be here helping out.”
She thought he was cute. Max was tall, dark, and handsome. That was totally her type until they turned into chauvinistic, bossy, and possessive.
This guy seemed…wholesome. That was odd in that day and age. She should know. She’d run into the opposite more times than not.
“It’s my pleasure, Detective.”
Then she got down to business.
Unrolling an outline, she placed it on the hood of the nearest ride.
“We had one of our undercovers scope it out. The place is a shit dive, and he likes it that way. No one goes there for laughs and dinner. It’s a whole brew of badness.”
She was aware.
The eyes on the house said that there are drugs being made there to get money. It’s a deathtrap waiting to blow.”
Great.
Callen looked freaked, and the only thing saving her ass was Ethan was at home.
“There are three doors. It had once been a duplex, but the roaches took over the whole place. We have to cover three doors, and with nine people, we should be good to go. What’s the plan?”
She was good with that.
“I want front with Callen,” she stated.
Harmony marked it on the plan.
“I’ll give Agent Flirts-a-lot the side door with two of your guys, Harmony.”
“Really?” Alex asked. “That’s not a good nickname.”
She snorted.
“If the name fits, wear it.”
Elizabeth focused on the floor plans.
“When you go in the front, he’s likely going to flush to the side or back,” the marshal stated.
She agreed.
“I hope your detective can handle himself. We’re going to take the back door. I’ll place the other three around the perimeter in case he breaks through. It’s better to be safe than sorry on this one. We’ll get one shot. One will watch the door you go into in case he has some friends coming by for T.”
“Tea?” Max asked.
“As in T for trouble,” Elizabeth stated.
He got it now.
He was going to be watching the marshal’s flank, and Max was man enough to admit he’d enjoy it.
A lot.
He was only human.
“Does that jive, Lyzee?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m good with that. We should head over,” she stated, glancing at her watch.
“Warrant?” Harmony asked.
“Oh, shit! Did I need one of those?” Elizabeth asked. “I knew I forgot something.”
She laughed and held out her hand. She knew Elizabeth well enough that the warrants had been printed out, double signed by a judge, and likely endorsed by the big man, Ethan Blackhawk.
This wasn’t her first time.
Callen handed it to her. It was the one that was outstanding, and it was accompanied by the one to search the property for Carl Fitzpatrick.
Yeah, she’d been right.
“Thanks. Let’s ride.”
They headed toward the vehicles.
It was time to roll.
* * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *
Fort Whitefox-Blackhawk
As Ethan changed, Chris was pacing back and forth in the master bedroom. He was wearing a line in the carpet, or he soon would be if he kept it up.
“They’ll be okay,” Ethan stated, trying to reassure him the best he could. While he didn’t buy it, and he was worried, Ethan kept it light. “Really.”
“Sure.”
He kept walking.
Ethan sat on the edge of the bed, and he patted it for Chris to join him.
“Want to talk?”
“I lived this before with her. It didn’t end well. I’m just worried. If anything happens to her, I’m all alone.”
Ethan laughed.
“Well, I feel like chopped liver and invisible.”
Chris looked over.
“Come on, Ethan. We know that the only reason you and Callen tolerate me is because of her. She’s the glue, and if she gets killed, I’m out of here.”
His words actually hurt.
“You know what, Chris? That’s shitty to say to people who love you.”
Chris was surprised.
Ethan’s tone said it all. He wasn’t happy about what was just said.
“If that’s what you really think, Doctor Leonard, you should leave. Here, I was under the impression that we were a family, and you loved us too.”
“I do.”
“Really? That didn’t sound like it. That sounded like a man who is only here for her—not us.”
Chris was off balance.
“Cut me a break, okay? I’m having a bad week,” he stated. “I’m just being honest.”
“Oh, okay. Well, Doctor Leonard, in this family, when we have a bad week, we talk about it. In this unit, if something is bothering you, we discuss it. We don’t jump to conclusions and we try not to hurt others.”
“So what you’re saying is, God forbid, anything happened to her, I’d still be part of this? Three men and all these babies? Really?”
Ethan took a hard line on this.
“If she were to go down, we’d expect you to stand up, help with all of our kids, and be strong. We all face this daily. We face it with you being sick. That doesn’t give us the opportunity to bail on love because the woman isn’t around.”
Chris didn’t understand this.
“I didn’t have this growing up.”
“And neither did I until I found Callen. I nearly lost that out of stupidity. Don’t follow that path.”
Chris saw he really hurt him.
He took the step to bridge it.
Chris hugged him. Ethan was shirtless, riled up, and tense, but he held on.
Ethan wrapped his arms around him.
“Family sticks. You’re family,” he admitted. “We didn’t plan it, but you became part of this when you lost your wife. I’m willing to share the woman I love and make you my brother. You just have to return that to us.”
Chris relaxed.
“I’m sorry. I’m worried, and it really has been a shitastic week.”
He was aware.
“Let’s get changed, and I have something for us.”
“What?”
“Ivan is lurking, and he has a live body cam and com in his ear. He’ll listen for us and we can watch the footage.”
“Really?”
“Yes, it’s almost like being there.”
And Ethan wished he was.
This was the bad part of his job.
He couldn’t be part of their team.
* * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *
Brian and Stephanie
Montany’s Home
When they got there, it was lights out.
It was time to do this operation in the dark. So, they moved into position and got ready to breach the perimeter of the house. Callen had Elizabeth’s back, and he even used his body to block hers.
He’d promised his brother that he’d bring her back home in one piece, and that was exactly what he was going to do—no matter what.
“We have three people inside,” Harmony said over her com.
The FBI coms picked up her talking. That was the beauty of their technology.
“One is a woman, we also have two men. I see guns on the table. One is a semi, the other a nine.”
“Wait until they are away from the guns,” Elizabeth whispered back into the com. “He’s got violent tendencies. He will shoot to kill.”
That was exactly what she hoped didn’t happen. That was the worst-case scenario for all of them.
They didn’t need that.
As they watched, one of the marshals climbed the telephone pole to the street light. With the butt of his gun, he busted the glass. There was the shattering sound as the street around them went dark.
It gave them cover.
Perfect.
“We have everyone in position, Blackhawk. You make the call,” she stated.
This was on Elizabeth.
She watched.
And she waited.
Max was in position behind Harmony. He was focused on her and the people in the house. He hadn’t done this a lot in Boston on the job. After all, he’d been a detective for a couple of weeks and that was it.
Mostly, they used S.W.A.T when they had to enter a location. They rarely let detectives go through a door on a fugitive apprehension, and they rarely let beat cops either. Max knew why. His father’s death had made them change that policy.
It wasn’t lost on him.
This was dangerous.
As they stood in position, she looked over her shoulder and directly at him.
“Put your hand on my back. When we go through the door, you don’t let go if the lights go out. Criminals will cut the power to hide, and then I won’t be able to get a fix on your position without you touching me.”
He got it.
“I won’t let go.”
He placed his hand on her lower back, and he could feel the longer Kevlar. He knew she was expecting a battle.
That freaked him out.
“We are going in five,” came Elizabeth over the com. “Four, three, two, one…”
They heard her yell ‘FBI’ and ‘search warrant’, and then the door crashed in.
What Harmony didn’t want to happen was exactly what went down. The lights went off, and they were going in blind. That upped the danger that much more.
Great.
So much for the power of prayer.
This sucked.
She booted the back door and heard the third get kicked in at the same time. They headed in, and she prayed that no one got hurt.
Inside, they heard the shouts and the crashes as they cleared the room.
Then she heard the click of a magazine getting locked and loaded.
It was too close.
She knew from doing this a while that the sound of that magazine sliding home was a damn bad sign.
Instinct kicked in.
She spun, throwing her body across the man behind her. They hit the floor and slid into the wall.
It was then that she felt the bullets hit her body armor, and her body sung in pain.
Three impacts.
And then the world really went to hell.
* * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *
Across town, he was waiting for him to call with the news that the next person was gone.
He couldn’t wait.
This was the best part of his plan. He was enjoying the chaos.
He was enjoying the confusion.
The FBI was never going to figure this out.
He was golden.
Then, he’d have his revenge.
* * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *
Brian and Stephanie
Montany’s Home
When the dust cleared, Brian was gone.
Yep.
He gunned down the marshal and detective, and then headed out the door, over the fence, and into the night.
They had a runner.
Oh, but it was far from over.
Yeah, he thought he could run, but he hadn’t accounted for one thing.
She chased him.
Elizabeth ran for almost a mile, tracking him, but in the end, there were too many drug houses, too many flops, and way too many chances to get shot.
So, she jogged back.
When she got to the house, there was an ambulance sitting there. In it, the detective and marshal were both being patched up. Harmony’s gear ended up protecting them and only one bullet struck her arm, and then hit his—grazing them both.
She was able to breathe again.
History had NOT repeated itself on her watch. Max’s son, Maximus, had lived.
They got lucky.
“Who did we net?” she asked.
“We caught his mother and his drug buddy, who was the only one not packing,” Callen stated. “He is, as we speak, crying in the car.”
“Son of a bitch,” Harmony muttered.
This was EXACTLY what she didn’t want to happen, and it did.
“I can’t believe he got away,” Harmony stated. “Blackhawk, you should have outrun him.”
She stared at her.
“Uh, I’m double that kid’s age, I don’t know the neighborhood, and he got past your backup plan, Wells. Let’s not point fingers.”
Harmony knew she was right.
“Sorry. I just hate losing them,” she admitted. “I apologize. I would have stopped chasing him two drug houses past this flop.”
It was better safe than dead.
“Cal, transport the two we caught to the Hoover building,” she stated.
Callen kissed his wife and headed away.
He knew she wasn’t happy. If he let her drive them in, they might not make it there.
Someone would die.
He could see it happening. He could see her flipping her shit all over the piss poor example of a mother and the druggie friend.
It was time to get them where she wouldn't strangle them.
She waited until her husband and Heath headed away. Truth be told, Elizabeth was grateful no one was killed. Max had come close.
“You okay?” she asked him.
“Yes. I feel like I was hit by a bus.”
Harmony laughed as she got taped up. “Well, that’s no way to charm the ladies, Detective.”
He stared at her.
“I didn’t mean…”
She snorted.
“Oh, we all know what you meant. I’m the bus. Gotcha,” she stated, teasing him.
Before he could say anything, she was focused on Elizabeth.
“I’ll head back and let Marcus know that he’s in the wind. We’ll begin the manhunt. We’ll find him. I promise,” she said, fist bumping her.
Then she turned.
“Detective, it was my pleasure to knock you on your ass. I hope next time, you get to return the favor.”
She winked at him.
Then she was gone.
“Uh…”
Elizabeth laughed.
The look on the man’s face was priceless. It said it all, and she couldn’t help herself.
“Come on, Max. Let’s leave the marshals to search the house. I have to call Ethan and tell him I’m alive.”
She didn’t get a chance.
Her phone rang.
“Blackhawk.”
“Nice op, baby. No one died,” he said, teasing her.
“Yeah, well, the asshole ran, Ethan.”
“You’ll get him. You chased him almost a mile. That’s a crazy, mad skill.”
She paused.
“How did you know that? No one chased him with me,” she asked.
He laughed.
Ethan didn’t have to say a word. His silence was very telling.
“I’m going to kill Ivan. Is his ass stalking me? Seriously? If he had damn time to report in, he could have helped me chase the man!”
“He did. You outran him. He was on live feed. Nice hustle, baby.”
She fumed.
“I’m going to kick his ass when I see him!”
Yeah, or so she always said when he did something like this. No one was buying that.
“Well, are you heading home?”
“No, I’m heading to the office, I have to browbeat the friend and the criminal chaser. Maybe they can tell me where Brian would go.”
He hoped so.
“I have an early meeting, and Chris needs to rest. I’ll kiss the babies, tuck Chris in, and dream about you, my sexy badass.”
>
“What will you dream?”
“Naked things where you…”
Max cleared his throat, along with Ivan. It looked like her sexy husband forgot about the coms.
“ELIZABETH!”
“Sucks when you’re being stalked and eavesdropped on, huh?” she asked.
He laughed.
“I love you, Director Badass. See you later.”
“I love you, too, Deputy Director Sexy Pants.”
He hung up before she could take it any further. With her, you never knew.
“You ruined my fun,” Elizabeth said, pointing at Max. “That’s not cool.”
“Yeah, I’m like that.”
“How’s the arm?”
“It stings.”
“I bet.”
“I had a ‘losing my dad’ flashback. The lights went out, and that asshole was firing at anything that moved.”
“Yeah, they do shitty things like that when they don’t want to go to jail.”
“I’m not a fan.”
She laughed.
No one was.
“Well, on a plus note, Harmony likes you. You both got shot, and she didn’t berate you.”
He glanced over.
“Really? How do you know?”
“She saved your life and flirted. When a babe does that, Max, that’s some serious heat.”
“Uh, she shook my hand and walked away. That was about as warm as a body.”
Elizabeth found that amusing.
“You should buy her flowers to thank her, and then ask her out. There was a wink.”
He had to be losing his mind.
No.
She was.
“I’m leaving when this is over. Why would I do that?” he asked, as they loaded up into the ride with Ivan.
“Well, about that, Detective.”
He glanced over.
“Yes?”
“I’m officially offering you a position at the FBI. You are cordially invited to join my team and get shot at a lot more than you do now.”
“What?”
Ivan couldn’t help himself.
He started laughing.
“Max, you’re smart. I’m sure you recognize a job offer when you hear one. I need more people, and you’ll fit in fine.”
Dead are Forgotten Page 45
