Security was going nuts. It was taking everything Ethan had to keep Ivan and Heath from tearing out of there. In fact, he was throwing down bribes, favors, and anything to give her time.
Then, something miraculous happened.
Gabe came into work.
Word had gotten back to him, and he showed up out of the blue. When he strolled in, he handled it.
“This is classified,” he said, pointing at security.
Ivan shut up.
Fast.
“I know your job is to ensure that she stays safe, but she’s personally handling something for me. Here’s the file.”
He slid it across the table to Ivan. When Liam was killed by Bonnie, he’d been promoted to lead them, and he’d carry the weight of what was happening.
He read it and he was NOT happy.
“I would have done this for her,” he stated. “She shouldn’t be doing this.”
That there was all Ethan had to hear. The man was a good person.
“You have to trust her. She’s tricky and slick,” Callen stated. “It’s hard to swallow, but she’s good.”
Gabe reiterated that.
“I trust her. She’s cleaning up after me. I’m going to ask as a personal favor you don’t file charges against her for assault and theft.”
He laughed.
“I’m not filing. I just wanted to get her back here.”
All the men relaxed.
“She’s not alone,” Ethan stated.
“Who’s with her?” Ivan asked.
“A ghost.”
Ivan had no choice. He was going to have to believe that the woman he had come to respect and genuinely care about would be okay.
But when he got his hands on her…
Yeah.
He was going to kick her ass.
* * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *
Magnus Home
She knocked.
“It’s open,” Jaxon called.
That was what Elizabeth hoped would happen. She’d wondered how to get Jagger in with her, and now it would be easy.
Opening the door, she checked to make sure O’Banion wasn’t there waiting.
He wasn’t.
This wasn’t going to work for him. See, she knew Tony’s home. She knew how to move around in it, and now so did Jagger. She had a key to the place, and at that moment, he was entering the kitchen.
It was on.
Heading in, she raised her hands so O’Banion could see them when she entered.
“Well, you came,” he said. “I didn’t see anyone with you,” he stated. “Yes, I was watching.”
Well, she wasn’t an idiot. She dropped her ‘cargo’ a block away.
“What do you want?” she asked. “Let Jaxon go.”
He laughed.
“You’re funny. I want you, Elizabeth. Do you know how many women have ever told me no?”
“Well, since you’re a slimeball, I’m going to say PLENTY,” she stated.
He shoved the gun further into Jaxon’s neck.
She whimpered.
“You’re funny. See, if I can’t have something, then no one can. I couldn’t have my wife anymore, so she had to die. I can’t have my daughter anymore, and my grandchild and they have to die, and I can’t have my life. It all has to die.”
“You’re batshit insane. You were a criminal. You got your punishment. You should have been put down and dumped in an unmarked grave.”
He laughed.
“Well, see, since you’re supposed to be watching me, there are no marshals on my tail. When I kill my daughter and grandchild, and then you, I’m out of here. It will look like Carl took me. I’ll be free.”
Elizabeth laughed.
Yeah, except they’d ID’d Carl’s bones.
“Yeah, you’re an idiot.”
“I AM NOT!” he raged. “I had you going! I taught that moron to kill. I made him think I was Carl.”
She crossed her arms over her chest.
“Well, the only issue is, I knew pretty much from the start. You see, my boss is the one who called Marcus Hunter and asked him to pull your marshal guards off you. We both saw this day coming. I’m the one who ignored the facts to get you here. You’re here right now because you’ve been playing my game. Yours sucked, so I rewrote the rules while you were busy playing with Carson.”
He looked confused.
“What are you saying?”
“When you plan something this big, it’s all tied together, Mikey. You forgot one big detail and it’s what gave it away a few days ago. In fact, on day one.”
“What?” he asked.
“How the news of you got out. See, there was only one way that could happen. You had to be the leak. Gabe wouldn’t tell anyone, and only he knew where the file was. The attorney for the Justice Department died right after you went under. It couldn’t have been him. Then you have the old director. He was killed by a serial killer. He didn’t say anything, and the old director of the marshals didn’t either. He’s been dead a couple years. Cancer is a bitch. You were the last thing on his mind. My husband couldn’t tie you to anyone in the marshals for a reason. It was always you.”
O’Banion began sweating.
“The second I couldn’t answer that one question, it only pointed in one direction. My gut, from the beginning, knew it was you. You see, it’s always the simplest answer. Criminals aren’t as smart as they like to think they are. They plan, plot, and attempt, but it all has to match up, and this didn’t match up at all. I’m damn good at what I do. While you’ve been sitting around stewing in your anger, I’ve been honing my skills. I’m smarter, faster, and meaner than you. You were a killer, Mikey, but guess what? I am a killer. I’m the big bad in this room.”
He was getting antsy.
“You didn’t pull off some master plan, Mikey. You didn’t even come close. Your curtain call is here, and the show is over.”
“I did! You can’t prove I didn’t!”
She was doing what Ethan said. She was playing his ego. She was going to break him down by doing it just the way her profiler told her.
“I can prove it.”
“HOW?” he raged, grabbing his daughter by the hair.
“I resurrected a ghost. See, even they need revenge, and when you have to take down a ghost, you use a meaner, angrier one to do the job.”
She whistled.
Jagger walked into the room.
“Hey, Dad,” he said, the gun in his hand pointed at his father’s head. The red dot of the scope on his forehead.
He stared at him.
“You said he was dead!”
Elizabeth laughed.
“Yeah, oops. My little secret just got out of the bag. My bad. I guess that’s just more proof that I saw this coming.”
“You killed our mother?” Jagger asked.
He moved behind Jaxon, but he couldn’t hide his body and watch the man. His head was out.
He was a target.
“Come closer and I’ll kill her.”
Jagger moved closer—despite his warning.
“You killed her, didn’t you?”
“You were always a pussy, wanting to be a teacher, and never seeing that you’re a killer. You’re just like me, son.”
He laughed.
“The sad part is, Dad, I really am.”
Elizabeth leaned against the wall.
“You see, Mikey, the government has put a hit out on you. They can’t let you live. I’ve been asked to end you. I’m pretty much the president’s hit woman. See, that’s the whole ‘me as a killer and you’re past your prime’ thing. It sucks normally, but today…yeah, today I’m glad.”
The man looked nervous.
“You won’t kill me.”
She laughed.
“I won’t. See, I don’t want revenge. All of this has been about that. You’ve been festering in your own juices over this, but I haven’t. I can’t kill you since I don’t hate you. I pity you, but I don’
t have anything against you. You were just a case. A pathetic little man who thought he was on top of the world until he wasn’t. So, I opted, the second I knew it was you, to make the call. Jagger—he deserves the revenge. You killed his mother, you made them prisoners, and you forged this life for him. He can never have a little picket fence and a calm life. This is his revenge.”
The man backed up taking Jaxon with him.
“Your revenge is going to be canceled out by his revenge, and we will all be going home tonight with one less weight on our shoulders.”
“He’s a pussy. He wouldn’t do it.”
Jagger laughed.
“You’ll hit your precious sister.”
Elizabeth laughed that time.
“He’s a Marine. His aim is…”
She didn’t get to say anything.
He cut her off.
“Bye, Dad.”
And then there was the bang.
Jaxon jerked as the bullet flew by her, hitting her father in the head. She heard the impact, and she didn’t look back. Instead, she rushed forward and into her brother’s arms.
“Give me my gun back,” Elizabeth stated.
“Go! Get her and you out of here.”
Jaxon gasped.
“My water just broke,” she said, still refusing to look back at what was likely all over the wall of her living room. The man who had given her life was going to kill her and her baby.
There was no love lost.
“Take her to the hospital. I’ll see you there,” Elizabeth said. “I’ll get Tony there.”
They were gone.
Elizabeth headed over to the dead man and stared down at him.
“You reap what you sow, Mikey, and I won’t be like you. My killing days are done. I’m too old, and there’s too much on the line for me. I’m a Fed. I’m going to do my job, live my life, and not regret anything from here on out.”
She pulled out her phone.
Ethan answered on the first ring.
“It’s done. I need a body pickup at Tony’s house. O’Banion was going to kill his child.”
“Is she okay?” he asked.
“She’s in labor. Have Tony head to the hospital. You should have Chris or Callen drive him,” she said. “He’s about to be a daddy.”
“Are you okay?”
She stared down at the dead man.
Yeah, she was good.
Justice was served.
It took a long time, but those seven people, and even Carl, had gotten their justice. Michael O’Banion wasn’t going to bother anyone again.
“I’m better than okay. Book Carson as the serial killer, he’s going to say Carl trained him, but let them think he’s cuckoo. Gabe will want this body to go missing. Someone is going to an unmarked grave somewhere in the middle of nowhere, and he deserves it.”
He got it.
“Will I see you at the hospital?” he asked.
She was dead tired, but sometimes, the family came first and that meant sacrifice.
“Yeah, you will. I’m going to be an aunt. That’s the best ending for all of this.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Elizabeth hung up the phone. She headed toward the door, closed it behind her, and headed toward the hospital.
It was a new day for her.
Her gut was right.
Her conscience was clean.
And there was one more case in the books.
It didn’t get any better than this.
Finally, after more than a decade, she’d gotten her man.
May he not rest in peace…
Epilogue
Monday Morning
Early
W hen she arrived at the hospital, she was happy, smiling, and ready to celebrate life. Ivan was waiting for her outside the hospital, and he didn’t look amused when she pulled up in his vintage truck.
Maybe it was the gangster rap she was playing to piss him the hell off. She certainly wasn’t going to listen to the country music he’d had programed into his radio.
As she hopped out, he headed her way.
“Uh, next time, maybe you can ask to ‘BORROW’ my truck. Stealing isn’t pretty on you.”
She snorted and handed him the keys.
“I also heard you cheated on me with another Marine. You’ve broken my heart.”
She gave him a fist bump.
He stopped her.
“I would have handled it for you. For the record, you could have trusted me to do it.”
Elizabeth patted him on the cheek. She genuinely loved this man. He was like that irritating brother she never got to see grow into a good person.
“I know, and that’s exactly why I couldn’t let you. This was about balancing the scale. He needed this more than I did, and certainly more than you did.”
He dropped his arm over her shoulders.
“You’re a menace.”
“You’re a troll. We all have to be who we have to be,” she teased.
Elizabeth pointed at the gift shop.
“I need cash.”
He laughed.
“You stole my truck. No way.”
She headed in and bought a big bear, a bunch of flowers, and a onesie that said, ‘I love my Daddy’ on it.
Then she paid.
Only, Ivan recognized that the money was, indeed, coming out of his absconded wallet.
He stared at her.
“Seriously?”
She snorted and tossed it back.
“You know I’m good for it. Daddy Warbucks will pay it back.”
Yeah, he knew.
Ivan brought her upstairs, and in the waiting room was their whole family. They were anxiously sitting there as they waited for any news on Jaxon.
Elizabeth headed toward her husbands.
Ethan pulled her into his arms and held her for a second. The feel of her helped calm him down. As soon as she was released, Callen did the same thing.
“You’re trouble,” Callen stated.
She laughed.
“Yeah, that’s a newsflash.”
He sighed.
“I was worried,” he stated. “Then I saw who was your backup, and I was pissed. You had to have time to get him into position,” he stated.
“Jagger is hunting for his wife. She’s still missing, but he told me that he would be here for Jaxon. I figured why not have him here to tie up loose ends.”
“Which have disappeared,” Ethan added.
She was glad.
“His body was moved, and there’s a cleanup crew taking care of the house for Tony and Jaxon.”
Perfect.
“It looks like this time, Mikey is a thing of the past.”
Chris headed her way.
“Jesus, Elizabeth.”
She went into his body and cuddled against him.
It was good to be with the people she loved.
“Is it finally over?” Chris asked. “After all of these years, is he finally gone?”
“It’s done, Newton. It’s done.”
There was relief. She’d be safe…well, from this nut job.
“How’s Jaxon?” she asked, wanting to change the subject to happier things. O’Banion was dead and gone. He was over.
“Well, let’s just say that the whole thing moved the labor along, and she’s pushing.”
She was glad she didn’t miss it. There was nothing like life to erase the ugliness of murder and death.
“Want to go skydiving?” she asked.
He laughed looking at his watch.
“Yeah, when?”
It was already a new day.
“Ethan and I have to leave tomorrow, so can we bump your birthday celebration up a bit?” she asked. “How about later today?”
“I’m good with that.”
Great.
“Today, we’ll jump.”
Callen had to get the present situated. It was on its way.
“I’ll be on the ground waitin
g for you,” he said. “Where I won’t be killed as I plummet to my death.”
The door to the birthing suite opened, and they could see their friend. He was carrying a little bundle of baby, and the child was wearing a little blue hat.
The baby was crying, and so was his father.
When he saw them there, the tears intensified.
The family moved toward him and surrounded Tony and the baby. Chrissy was crying and rubbing her belly, Chris was even teary-eyed. He knew how this moment felt.
“Everyone, I’d like for you to meet my son. This is Jagger Christopher Magnus,” he said. “My wife wanted to name him after her brother, and I wanted to name him after mine. It seemed right.”
Chris was honored.
He handed the baby to Elizabeth, and she cuddled the little boy.
“Thank you for saving my wife,” he said, touching her cheek. “Jaxon told me everything. Thank you for always having my back. We’d like for you and Chris to be the godparents. We’d love for you to love our son as if he were your own.”
She kissed the little baby on the forehead.
“Hello, handsome. You’re going to have your daddy’s eyes,” she said, as the baby blinked up at her.
She handed him over to Chris.
He held the baby as Tony hugged his family. They may not be blood, but what they had…it was stronger.
They each took turns.
They each held his child, wishing it peace, love, and a few Native prayers. When they finished, Elizabeth was gone.
She needed to see Jaxon and say goodbye to one of her favorite Marines.
In the birthing suite, Jagger was sitting beside his sister, and they were both in tears.
“You did good, Momma,” she said, giving her a kiss.
“I can’t believe I made a kid.”
Jagger laughed.
“Well, let’s hope crazy isn’t genetic.”
She hugged him.
“I’m going to miss you,” she said. “Thank you, Jagger. I needed you.”
He gave her a kiss.
“It’s no problem. Now I have to get back to finding Roxy. I have to find my wife.”
“I’ll be back,” Elizabeth said.
She followed Jagger out to a back stairwell. She handed him a packet of cash, some IDs, and a file.
Dead are Forgotten Page 60
