Apartment
When they parked, she could spot the car on the street that was going to have the US Marshal sitting in it. It was easy for a federal officer to make out the markings that would give it away.
Heading that way, she tapped on the window with her badge.
The man inside rolled it down and checked out her credentials. He had a nine-millimeter sitting on his lap. It proved that he was expecting the worst.
She didn’t blame him.
O’Banion had made a lot of enemies, and he was the king of the snakes.
“Director Blackhawk,” he acknowledged.
“And you are?”
“I’m Dustin Spark,” he said, offering her his hand. “Today is my last day watching the sitting duck,” he stated.
Clearly, word had traveled.
The US Marshals were pulling out.
Perfect.
Elizabeth could work with that. O’Banion was being cut loose to end the mess. This would be the catalyst to start the ball rolling.
The bait was in the trap.
Still, there was a chance that this was going to blow up in her face. They were playing with the man’s life, and he was still a mob man—even if they neutered him.
“What do you have?” she asked, as her husbands flanked her side and watched her back.
Literally.
It was like they expected a knife-wielding wacko to bum rush her.
Ye of little faith.
“Nothing. He is inside, and two hours ago I knocked to do a face to face check. Nada. He’s alive.”
“Any visitors?” she asked, working on the plans for tonight. She was going to be sitting there watching the man for anything out of place.
If Carl showed up…
Yeah, she had her plan.
“Nope. I’ve been on all-night. I could see him in the window the whole time. He went to bed around twelve, he got up at seven, and he’s having coffee right now. I saw him standing in the kitchen window.”
“Anyone suspicious? We’re looking for someone lurking with dark hair.”
He laughed.
“This is DC, and there are hookers around here. I have news for you. All the men who come around here are lurking.”
Yeah, she assumed.
“I’m sorry, Director, but the place has been quiet except for the people who live there. That’s why my boss is yanking me from the duty.”
Oh, she didn’t doubt that Gabe had something to do with that duty being pulled. He wanted O’Banion handled, and she was going to do just that.
Her way.
Elizabeth played by her rules, and she was going to make sure if she had to be the executioner, she could live with it.
“How long are you here until? Give me a timeline,” she asked.
“I’m out of here at noon. They opted not to pull in the next round, but instead, have me work a double. There will be no replacement coming in after me. If something goes down before that, I can notify you. If not, you are going to have to get someone to pick up the duty.”
Ethan covered for his wife. He didn’t want anyone to know she was sitting there.
“Yeah, that’s not happening. We don’t have the budget to waste a Fed to babysit him.”
The man shrugged.
“I don’t get why we are watching a scumbag. I recall this man from a decade ago. He’s an asshole.”
Preaching to the choir.
“Thanks, Marshal Sparks. I appreciate everything you’ve been doing to keep him safe.”
He ran his hand through his black hair and smiled at her. “Ma’am, it’s my pleasure. It’s been a long duty for the last few months. I’m just glad to get off of it. I’m glad to go back to a normal caseload. I wish I could help you out more. It sucks that we have to watch assholes like this when we could be out searching for fugitives.”
Oh, she was aware.
“Let’s go talk to him,” she stated, as they crossed the street and headed to the older building.
“Wow, he has to hate living here,” Ethan stated. “I saw how much money the government seized from him, and he has to be bitchy about that.”
She laughed.
“Yeah, I can imagine, but then again, if this ever got out, the wise guys he ‘supposedly ratted out’ would come for him.”
“Like Carl,” Callen stated.
“Yep.”
Honestly, it couldn’t have happened to a nastier asshole than O’Banion, but that wasn’t what she needed to focus on at that moment.
This was all about finding the killer.
Heading up to the third floor, they noticed there was another way to get to a back set of stairs. She’d have to make sure when she staked the place out, she was able to see the back door too.
Elizabeth needed to cover all of her bases.
They headed up the main stairs of the rundown apartment. It had probably been much nicer when they’d dropped O’Banion there years ago.
At the man’s door, she knocked.
When she did, there was the sound of footsteps, and then the chain and four bolts being undone.
Someone was scared shitless.
“Well, this is unexpected and dangerous,” he said when he peeked out. “Someone is trying to lead a killer right to me. Awesome,” he stated, letting them in.
She laughed.
Little did he know she was a killer too.
“Hurry! I don’t need anyone seeing you here! I saw your news thing. Why don’t you just put a neon sign over my head and put it online too?”
She laughed.
“Ethan, is that an option?” she asked.
Oh, he wished.
He led them into his sparse living room.
“Oh, and thank you for dressing up for me,” O’Banion stated. “I knew when I saw you in that dress all those years ago that I’d get more leg action from you. How about you wrap them around my neck?”
That was all it took.
Elizabeth didn’t even get to say a word.
Callen grabbed him by the shirt and shoved him into the wall. The man looked surprised as his head left a dent in the sheetrock.
“You can’t do this to me!”
Callen laughed and cracked his knuckles.
“Want to really be dead? I would love to help you out, and if one more shitty comment comes out of your mouth, you will die a painful death.”
He swallowed.
Ethan took a seat beside his wife as Callen stayed close by them. He was watching the man like he was going to pull a gun. He hated O’Banion.
Period.
“We had another victim. I need to see if you know her,” she said.
“Who?” he asked, looking worried. “Are they getting closer to me?”
“Do you know a Mariah Hart?” she asked, pulling out her phone to show him the woman’s driver’s license picture.
He stared at it.
“I’ve seen her before, but where?” he asked, taking a seat on his couch. He mulled it over quite a bit.
Then it hit him.
“Jesus!”
“What?” she asked, sitting across from him.
“She worked at ‘Coopers’!”
Yeah, it followed the previous victims’ patterns. He recognized her, and he knew where she worked. This was definitely a message, but to who?
Him or her?
That was the question she was pondering.
“How do you know where?” she asked.
“I flirted with her a few times at lunch. When I take my lunch break, it’s on my route. I stop and eat there daily. I don’t know how to cook unless it’s in bed.”
Callen pointed at him in warning.
“Relax, I wasn’t referencing her. You made your point clear. She’s hands off. I should have taken her while I could, but I was actually worried about the FBI. Now I see it’s a joke. They hid me and now someone found me.”
She ignored him.
The jury was out on that.
For now.
&nb
sp; “Was anyone bothering Mariah while you were leering at her like the pervert you are?” she asked.
He laughed.
“Everyone with a dick was ‘bothering’ her. She wore this skirt that barely covered her girl parts. Everyone there flirted with her. The bartender was all over her all the time. I saw him slap her on the ass once, and she gave him a look.”
“What does he look like?”
“Tall, dark, handsome, tattoos…if you’re into that. I can’t see the ladies loving it. It looks sloppy.”
Callen and Ethan both rolled up a sleeve to show him that they were the kings of sloppy then, and it netted them a queen.
“I’m into that,” she stated. “I love me some ink.”
He got it.
“Never mind.”
Elizabeth made note that they had to talk to the bartender. He might be part of this.
She was balancing everything she learned by her gut. When she was sure, she’d make a move.
“And you never had contact with her?” she asked, making sure.
“No. She brought my food, asked about the weather, and talked about getting married. That’s it. She wasn’t particularly special to me.”
Yeah, she noticed.
Elizabeth got up.
“Wait! You can’t leave me. He’s taken three victims. I don’t have anyone else around me. My list is small.”
“You go nowhere else?”
“The doctor and the grocery store. That’s about it. I live a solitary life thanks to your boss.”
She shrugged.
Karma was a bitch.
“Well, you can tell that to the eight victims we pulled from the hole. We all know you had a hand in that. You sicced your dog on them, and unfortunately for you, they both turned rabid and came back at you. Would you like to admit it now or when Carl gets you?” she asked.
“Fuck you.”
Yeah, that’s exactly what she thought.
“Not if you were the last dick on the earth and I had to repopulate the world. We’d all die out.”
He surprised her when he laughed outrageously.
“Someone is loco,” Callen stated.
“Not at all. I always was attracted to your feistiness. That was the big lure. Pretty is a dime a dozen. I could buy pretty. I couldn’t buy tenacity. You were supposed to be my next wife.”
She didn’t give a shit.
He could be attracted to a llama for all she cared.
“Well, you’re shit out of luck, Mikey. I’m already playing the role of wife, but you have a good day,” she said. “Stay safe,” she added, laughing.
“You should move me! I should be put someplace safe where Carl won’t find me. Your home. Your office. I’ll sleep in an FBI interrogation room! You have that big home where I’d be safe!”
Yeah, Elizabeth would NEVER let that happen.
They had kids.
“Gitmo is available,” Ethan offered. He didn’t like the way the man was staring at his wife’s legs. He didn’t like the man based on what he read in the file, but this…
He was pushing it.
“Pass. I’ll take my shot with Carl finding me. Gitmo is a hellhole. I’ll never go back. I’d rather die!”
“Well, if you say so,” Ethan stated.
“You all do realize that you’re cops, and they are supposed to protect and serve. You’re not really holding up that end of the deal.”
She laughed even more.
“Oh, Howard, you’re funny,” she said, using his new name. “You’re just like a thousand other witnesses they put under. You did the crime, and now…you do the time.”
She headed out.
When they got downstairs, she glanced at her watch.
“Well, it’s almost lunchtime. Want to join us?” she asked Ethan. “We have to hit that bar. It’s a dive, but I bet there’s food.”
He glanced at his watch.
“Yes, but then I have to have Wilcox take me back. Unless you’d like him to join us.”
She stared at him.
“You’re no longer my favorite.”
Callen laughed and dropped an arm over his wife’s shoulders.
“And I win again.”
Blackhawk grinned.
“Story of my life. Enjoy it while you can, Callen,” he said, grinning wickedly.
Callen finally got it.
“You suck. You’re going to get our wife alone in Vegas!” he said, figuring out why his brother was smiling.
“Yes, yes, I am.”
Elizabeth gave Callen a kiss.
“We get a honeymoon.”
She had a point.
“Tell me I’m your favorite again,” he teased.
She gave him that.
And it would be enough.
If they kept her alive and Carl away from her.
* * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *
Coopers
Bar & Dive
Well, it was pretty much what she expected, and that wasn’t the surprise. What was the surprise was the food was actually really good.
As in she’d eat there again. As long as there wasn’t a killer making the burgers in the back, she’d come here again for some downtime.
No one in there seemed to recognize her, and that, for once, was a good thing.
After they finished fueling up for the day, they had a few moments to talk about the case before the bill came.
“Are you really going to do a stakeout tonight?” Callen asked.
Ethan’s face said it all.
“Don’t worry. I’ll take Heath. He likes stakeouts,” she teased. “He’ll make sure no one sneaks up on me.”
Callen choked on his soda.
“Uh, did you forget about someone?” he asked. “You know…like your partner and husband?”
She gave him a kiss.
“Well, as my partner, you’re automatically included in that. I didn’t think I had to actually state that. We ride together, so we suffer in a stakeout together.”
He was good with that.
Callen relaxed.
“I don’t know if…”
She shut Ethan down.
She knew he was going to go with logic, and this case was anything but. In fact, she had the feeling her chain was not only being yanked by the killer, but it was forming into a noose.
For her.
“Do you have a better idea?” she asked, still keeping her gut suspicions to herself. This was new for her. Normally, she’d share everything, but honestly, she was worried she was wrong.
As of the last few cases, she was off.
This would be her barometer to tell if she was back on her game. That was so damn important in her job. If she was off, people died.
“You leave for Vegas in a little over a day and a half. Callen is planning our wedding for Valentine’s Day, and we have a shit load of responsibilities on top of it. If I sit and watch his place a couple nights, we might get lucky.”
He thought about it.
“He’s likely going to drop a body tonight.”
She was aware.
Hopefully, it wasn’t hers.
“This is all about the revenge. If he’s trying to freak O’Banion out, it’s working. The man is shaking in his boots over all of this. I’ve never seen him this worried, and I’ve seen him in action. All those years ago, he was fearless. Time has NOT been his friend.”
He understood that.
“We might luck out and see someone lurking around his apartment. I can spot a tail. I’m good at it. I’ve shaken Ivan plenty of times.”
He pointed at her from across the table. Ivan had joined them for lunch, and until then, he’d been silent, allowing them to work their mojo.
He was a guard.
He guarded.
They were cops.
They sleuthed.
The two didn’t intersect.
Ever.
“If you think it’s fun trying to follow you around, it’s not. I hate when you lose
me. It damages my masculinity and I can’t get an erection for days.”
She laughed.
“Well, that sucks for Miss Bluebell. I’ll take her to my favorite sex shop. It’s where I get all the fun stuff.”
He turned bright red.
Ethan did too.
Not Callen.
He rubbed his hands together maniacally.
That said it all.
“Why do you two have sex with her? She’s evil, she’s likely to mate and rip your head off, and the odds are not in your favor.”
They both laughed their asses off. They both had the same exact reasoning. First, they were madly in love with their wife, and secondly, she put her money where her mouth was. She talked the talk, and she walked the walk. If she said she was going to rock your world, she was going to do it.
Elizabeth was a storm in bed.
Who was not on board for that?
No.
Sane.
Male.
Ever.
“No comment,” Ethan stated. “I’m not provoking the praying mantis. I like it rough, but not that rough.”
She laughed.
“Smart man.”
Callen only grinned and wiggled his eyebrows.
That said it all.
“Back to O’Banion. I need you to trust me. Do I ever do anything without a reason?” she asked.
“NO,” they said together.
And there it was.
“Give me some time to work on this. I have something, and I need to feel it out.”
That made Ethan curious.
He couldn't help it.
“What?”
“As soon as I lock it down, you’ll be the first to know. I swear. You know how you don’t like to give a profile, Ethan, without all the facts?” she asked, and then focused on Callen. “Or how you don’t like to tell me what a book is about until you’ve fleshed out the ending?”
“Yes,” they both answered.
“This is my story and my profile. As soon as I get my bearings, I’ll share.”
They had to give her that.
She made a very valid point. It was just odd not to see her stressing that they had so little so late in the game.
“Fine,” Ethan stated, “but I don’t want you near him. EVER. He’s got that predatory sex look in his eyes, and he’s vowed to hurt you before. I don’t care how much he needs you to keep him safe—ironically, after what you told me.”
Dead are Forgotten Page 52
