Tori didn’t get it.
Elizabeth wasn’t rattled.
“None of this bothers you?” Tori asked.
“Well, the last time I saw you, you were a little off, and there are all those news reports of the cases you guys have been solving, so I knew something was up. I just didn’t know what.”
“So you suspected?”
“Well, I didn’t think it was this. I figured someone was worshipping the devil.”
Callen choked on the water he was drinking.
“What? They expected me to go there. Right?”
Tori laughed and hugged her friend. “I was afraid to tell you.”
Elizabeth hugged her back. “Never be ashamed of what you can do. I’m not. I play in the minds of sickos. Bethany,” she called. “Want to sign my cast?”
Tori laughed when the pen on the table slid toward her and the bright pink cast.
“She’s funny. I like her.”
“SHE’S. MY. BABE.”
“Trey, women are for spoiling, not for owning,” Elizabeth answered, not even freaked out.
Callen jumped and spun around. “Someone just grabbed my ass,” he said.
“BETHANY!” they all said.
“Sorry, she’s handsy when it comes to sexy men. She’s usually groping Justin or Julian.”
Then Beckett raised his hand.
“Or Beck.”
Roman raised his.
“And Roman. Okay, Bethany is sexually harassing all the men in the building.”
“I. GET. THE. LADIES.”
“Hands off my wife,” Callen warned.
Elizabeth shared the sentiment. “Bethany, hands off my man, or I’m going to get mean. I’ve sent a few people to your side.”
Tori was so relieved.
“Anyway, about Timothy,” Elizabeth offered. “Is he here?”
“Yes.”
“Can I speak to him?”
“I can’t channel, but Nyx can. Timothy said you’d speak when the time was right.”
“Yeah, he’s a pain in the ass about his timing of things. I guess I can wait.”
She looked around the room.
“Timothy, I love you. I hope you heard me before. That’s what I want to talk about!”
Tori could hear Bethany.
“My spirit guide said he called you his favorite for a reason, and to wait for it.”
She held her breath.
Then she heard it. That made her smile.
“Did someone just hear windchimes?” Justin asked.
Callen grinned. “That’s my grandfather’s way of telling us he’s near.”
“Handy. I get my junk felt up when the dead are creeping,” Julian stated. “Want to trade?”
“No way,” Callen stated. “You know my wife. She’ll commit homicide.”
That made the women laugh.
Yeah, speaking of murder.
“Want to get our case on?” Elizabeth asked. “If you’re free, we have some people to interview,” she offered. “We can all head to the Commissioner’s playground, and then split up after that.”
“Works for me,” Julian stated.
Callen didn’t care. His wife was back on the job, and that helped give her something to focus on other than Ethan being gone.
“I’m really ready,” Tori stated.
And she was.
The dark, heavy oppression was lifting now that she had backup. She’d been scared shitless about Elizabeth’s reaction, and now she saw that she had nothing to worry about.
Nothing.
At.
All.
Tori linked her arm through Elizabeth’s healing one. “Team, get researching, and make it good. You’ll never get another chance to use FBI equipment.”
“Victoria, will you be safe?” Julian called after her.
“I’m with Elizabeth, what could possibly happen?” she asked, as they headed out.
Callen knew the answer to that.
It was just about anything, and it was never good.
Chapter Thirteen
Delta Falls
Police Station
O n the way to kick some commissioner ass, Tori explained the situation. While she loved seeing Elizabeth do her thing, she wanted her to slow her roll. They had a lot riding on this, and they weren’t alone. There was a detective with his neck on the line, and there was no way they were going to betray Arsen Woods. He’d played it straight with them, and he was going to get the same courtesy.
Elizabeth didn’t mind protecting a decent cop who was out for justice. It was the ones who let it fall by the wayside as they twisted right and wrong to their own needs that she loathed.
They made her cranky.
She just didn’t respect bad ones, and in their line of work, you needed backup from the locals to do your job. At least most of the time.
If Tori and Julian, two of her most favorite people in the world, trusted the man, she would give him hers too. Their work effort had proven which side they were on many, many times before.
“He slipped us the file, so you can’t bring up anything we found in it.”
She laughed. “You realize I’ve been doing this a while, right?” she teased. “Don’t worry. I know how to handle this.”
“No physical violence,” Callen warned.
“Ahh, the big sucker of fun has spoken.”
He snorted.
“Fear not,” she offered, “I have other ways to make men squirm, and it’s much more effective.”
Callen opened his mouth.
“Don’t do it,” she warned, not even looking over at him. Elizabeth knew her husband and knew him well.
He closed it.
Julian found that amusing. “I swear they give birth, and they get mean.”
Callen wasn’t going there.
Ever.
Why poke the momma bear? Callen loved his appendages and having them ripped off and tossed from a moving vehicle…yeah, no, thank you.
“Callen James, can you text your brother and see if he handled the bond situation?” she asked. “He was going to make sure that the commissioner couldn’t play these kind of reindeer games with us.”
While she wanted to handle it, she was being casually optimistic. If Ethan didn’t come back, she didn’t want to get her heart broken all over again. He said he was taking care of his anger issues, but he’d said that before.
Elizabeth was worried he couldn’t pull it off. It sucked that she doubted him, but what people said and what they tended to do were two very different things.
“Sure, angel. I can do that.”
Elizabeth could hear the clicking of keys.
Then the response.
“He got the bond reset, and the judge is sweating the call from a Supreme Court Justice. Go figure.”
She knew he’d come through. When it came to his job, that wasn’t the issue. Ethan was king of DC. It was his marriage that was falling apart, not his career.
That said it all.
“Okay, problem number one is out of the way. Beau is not going to jail on Friday. Now we can do this the right way. We don’t have to rush through an investigation and screw it up. When you’re not focused, you miss things.”
Tori agreed. The pressure was taken down a notch, and she could stop worrying about Beau going into the system. It was a small miracle.
“I have a question,” Julian asked.
“Yes?”
“How exactly are we going to do this the right way? It’s been done the wrong way since it happened. Are we going to burn down the town and start all over again?” he asked.
Tori laughed. “I’m game for that option.”
“Victoria!”
She snorted.
“What?”
That totally sounded like the Elizabeth Blackhawk way to do things or at least the woman they once worked beside. Then again, she seemed a little more subdued. Maybe it was her separation from Ethan that had mellowed her.
“We are going
in with logic and the law on our side,” she stated. “That’s how I like to roll.”
Well, it looked like they were going to get front row seats to the show.
“It’s on your left,” Julian offered.
The big, black rental pulled into the parking lot. Behind them, two other rides came to a stop.
“Uh, we have tails,” Tori offered.
“That’s our security detail,” she offered. “Unfortunately, ‘Ivan the really Terrible’ is mine, and ‘Peter, Paul, and Stare-y’, are his,” she offered.
Callen snorted. “They hate when you call them that. In fact, every time you do, they get even by pestering the shit out of you.”
Yeah, she was aware.
The last time she told Ivan to kiss her ass, he tossed her over his shoulder and locked her in a broom closet for being a bitch. Granted, she knew what he was doing.
Everyone was trying to get the old feisty Elizabeth back to where she was. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate it. Truthfully, she missed Ethan too much to let it go.
“Yeah, I know. Ignore them. They follow me wherever I go—the ladies’ room included.”
Callen laughed. “That was my favorite…well, that and the broom closet.”
“Har-har. One day, I’ll pay him back.”
Outside the ride, Elizabeth pointed at security’s two vehicles and then tapped her watch. Ivan nodded from the front seat. It looked like they got it.
Hopefully.
“They stay back as of late, since Ethan and I are…” She didn’t even want to say it.
“Since you hit a bump?”
“Yeah, I guess,” she stated.
Julian patted her casted arm. “Tex, I swear to you that it’ll get better.”
She hoped so.
This was hell.
“Let’s get in there,” Callen stated.
Tori and Julian followed the two Feds. This was going to be interesting. You could tell, just from observing, that they did this a lot. It didn’t faze them at all.
How did he know?
Callen was calmly scanning the area, and Elizabeth was more focused on trying to scratch her wrist beneath the cast.
Then it hit him.
They were doing it on purpose. She wanted to catch the commissioner off guard, and this would do it.
Yeah, this was going to be interesting.
Inside, Elizabeth pulled her badge with her good hand and flicked it open on the sergeant’s desk.
“Can I help you, ma’am?” he asked, glancing over his reading glasses as he worked on some reports.
“You sure can.”
She didn’t buy for a second that the man didn’t know who she was, or why she was there.
Please.
The only person whose face was on the news and tabloids more than Tori and Julian’s was hers.
“Tell Commissioner Anders that there are two Feds in the house, and we need to speak to him. Also, get Detectives Woods and Bender too. We’re going to have a big ol’ party this morning to kick it off right!”
The man made a call.
When a cop slowed down to stare at her, she smiled sweetly. “Hey, sugar. Come here often? Got cuffs? I love them.”
He hustled away.
Callen rolled his eyes. “Tread lightly, Elizabeth, or I’ll get the cuffs, and you’ll find yourself attached at my wrist.”
She snorted.
Actually, she wouldn’t mind.
When the man hung up, he pointed to a conference room. “He’ll meet you over there, but he wants the Littlemoons to wait.”
Elizabeth glanced over. “Tori, can you sit and not burn the place down?” she asked.
“Only on one condition.”
“What?” she asked, as the sergeant watched.
“Make sure you give those three assholes a big kiss from me, and then flip them off.”
Elizabeth winked. “I think I can do…”
“Elizabeth,” Callen warned.
“He’s no fun. I’ll just kick their asses around the room instead,” she stated.
She was incorrigible.
“Callen James, let’s get our fun on.”
He saluted the sergeant with two fingers, and then he followed his wife. When they got into the room, it was empty. Elizabeth hopped up on the table and took a seat facing the door. She wanted to be ready when the men came in.
She knew what the commissioner was doing. By making them wait, he was taking the power position.
Well, fuck him.
That wasn’t happening.
“You look beautiful,” Callen offered.
It caught her off guard.
“What?”
“When I look at you wearing your badge and gun, I’m reminded of some wicked warrior going off to battle. You get this look on your face. It’s stunning.”
Her heart flipped in her chest.
“Oh, Callen James. You undo me.”
He moved closer and stood between her legs. If they thought they’d stew in their juices while they waited, he had other things they could do.
When her hand and casted wrist went to his hips, he leaned down and slowly kissed her. It was soft, gentle, and it was more Ethan than him. Callen wanted her to see that he could be both men if she needed that from him.
When he slowly pulled away, she was breathless.
It had been a while.
“That was amazing,” Callen offered, running his thumb across her lower lip. “I loved every second of it.”
She smiled.
It was genuine.
“I loved it too.”
She glanced at the door. “I hear footsteps.”
Unfortunately, so did he.
“Have at it, my warrior.”
Oh, she would.
Callen watched as the metamorphosis occurred. She went from sweet and delicate to hard and badass.
These men were screwed seven ways from Sunday.
As the door opened, she saluted them with her brightly casted arm.
“Greetings, fellow law enforcement officials. Let me get this rolling and introduce myself. I’m Director Elizabeth Whitefox-Blackhawk.”
The men stared.
“This is my partner, and husband, Director Callen Whitefox.”
“What do you want?” Commissioner Anders asked.
The detectives took a seat, and they stared at the two like they were a pair of spectacles in a freak show.
Oh, they knew why she was there.
And here it came.
“Well, I was called in to babysit a case. Normally, I handle serial killers.”
“We don’t have one of those.”
“Hold your horses, compadre. Let a lady finish before you get your knickers in a twist. I was called in because there’s some stink coming out of your house. The FBI has various departments. My unit is only one of many.”
“And?”
“I’ve been sent in to be your cop-like accountant. I’m going to be balancing the books on this clusterfuck.”
“We don’t need that.”
She laughed.
Yeah, right.
Immediately, Elizabeth could tell which cop had been the one who helped Tori and Julian.
He was squirming as if he was about to be betrayed. Yeah, well, she didn’t roll like that.
“I don’t understand why you’re here,” Commissioner Anders stated.
Elizabeth hopped off the table and walked to the whiteboard. “Let me draw you a picture.”
Callen knew this was going to be amusing. He almost wanted to record it. You know, for Ethan.
Screw it.
He pulled out his phone and pretended to work.
She began.
“This is Beau Littlemoon.”
Elizabeth drew a stick figure behind big, black bars. He had a sad face.
Callen was struggling not to laugh.
“He’s been arrested and charged with bunked-up bullshit. How do I know?” she asked. “It reeks of pathetic attempt t
o pin the tail on the non-guilty.”
The man sputtered.
“No one likes that game, gentlemen, especially those of us in the Federal government who are supposed to weed out corrupt local cops.”
The commissioner began to protest.
“DON’T,” she warned.
He closed his mouth.
Elizabeth then proceeded to point at the cop going red. “Chill out. You’ll see where I’m taking this.”
She went back to her picture as Callen filmed her nonchalantly from a chair.
“This is a judge. You can tell it is because he’s holding that big, old gavel.”
She drew it.
The men didn’t look impressed.
“Oh, it gets better. You see, he gets to decide if a man can have bail or not. In Beau’s case, he gave him bail because he honorably served this country, had no other run ins with the law, and most importantly, wasn’t a flight risk. See, that’s the ideal candidate for bail.”
The commissioner picked up his phone.
“Drop it, or I will shoot you in your over inflated ego, and have your buddies taken on a one-way trip to Guantanamo Bay where they will get beautiful cells facing…nothing.”
He dropped his phone.
Meanwhile, she drew two more stick figures as she hummed ‘The Star Spangled Banner’.
For anyone who didn’t know her, they’d think she was bat shit insane. For Callen, this was just another day in the life. In fact, it was so good to see the old her returning, that he’d get his ass kicked a million times a day for her to smile.
When she was done drawing, she turned.
“When these two people, we’ll call them the Littlemoons, put up bail, they figured their family member was safe from all kinds of douchery and tomfoolery. That was fact until this man,” she said, drawing a stick figure with a donkey head, “stepped in and asked the judge to illegally revoke it.”
The man crossed his arms. “I don’t look like that.”
“Yeah, that’s a matter of perspective. You are looking a little jack-ass like from where we stand.”
He sputtered.
“That’s still not the point. You going to that judge is crossing into dangerous grounds, my friend.”
“What’s your point?”
She drew another picture. This time, it was a Native stick figure wearing a badge and war bonnet.
“What the hell is that?” he asked.
Kiss of Souls Page 26
