They all saluted in jest.
She shook her head and mumbled. “They’re all out of their damn minds.” But because they were the best, she’d tolerate it the insanity.
* * *
There was no place like home, and even though the rental wasn’t their actual sanctuary, there was still a sense of peace as they pulled up into the driveway. The lights were on as darkness began to fall. It just felt… homey. Maybe it was because it was simply a very long day or possibly because they knew what waited for them when they arrived.
Babies!
Elizabeth raced to the house, wanting to get her hands on both her children and snuggle with them on the couch. Once inside, she found Wyler feeding Catherine and CJ playing on the floor with colorful baby rings. “Oh, my little loves!” she exclaimed, grabbing CJ from the floor and kissing him all over his face. His laughter was the best medicine for a long day steeped in death.
As he giggled, Elizabeth’s eyes filled with tears. She’d missed him so much. The little boy was her chubby cherub, and he resembled his father more every day. “Let’s go get little Cat,” she whispered in his ear, kissing his neck.
“How was your day, Sweetheart?” inquired Wyler, handing her his granddaughter and following her to the couch.
“Long.” It was the only word in her mind to describe it. “I’m glad to be here,” she replied, tucking her legs under her on the couch and cuddling her kids.
Wyler dropped a kiss on her forehead and sat across from her, as his son’s wandered in carrying their tablets, a whiteboard, and files.
“She gets to cuddle the kids, and we get to play pack mule, how is this fair?” stated Whitefox grinning. His heart skipped in his chest, as he watched the woman he loved, essentially holding all three of their children at once. Catherine was cradled in her arm while CJ perched on her lap, leaning against her baby bump. Callen’s eyes filled with tears, as emotion threatened to spill over.
“It is pretty awe inspiring to watch isn’t it?” asked his brother, knowing what he was thinking. It was the same for him too. Whenever the woman he cherished held their kids, his heart overflowed with love.
Family was precious. Never had he believed he’d be worthy of this amazing gift, and now he couldn’t imagine a moment without it.
“It renders me speechless.” Callen admitted. “As a kid, this was my wildest dreams, and it gives me so much peace to know our children won’t ever feel the emptiness.”
Ethan dropped his arm around his brother and pulled him against his side. “We’ve got you, Cal,” he whispered, knowing the man still hurt inside because of his mother and past demons.
He leaned on his brother’s strength, as they stood there and watched Elizabeth love her children.
Bly Cocheta entered and nodded at the men. “Since you’re home, I’ll retire for the night,” she said, walking out of the room and not acknowledging the woman on the couch.
Blackhawk was confused. “What happened?”
Elizabeth shrugged and went back to the little girl in her arms. “She made an unkind comment about Callen.” She let it go at that.
Whitefox crossed to her, dropping a kiss first to CJ’s head and then to his daughters. “She had her audacity handed back to her by the little woman here.”
Wyler spoke up. “Then I had a conversation with her, and I think she’s more irritated at me than anyone else.”
“I’m sorry, Dad,” offered Elizabeth. “I didn’t want your relationship with her to become the target of her animosity towards me.”
“Elizabeth! You didn’t do anything. If it’s meant to be, it’ll work out. Don’t worry, Sweetheart. I’m not looking for a wife. I’ve told you before that I married my soul mate and destroyed it. I’m very happy with my life as it is. If Bly wants to be angry, that’s on her. I won’t carry anger and let it eat away at me.”
Blackhawk didn’t like this entire mess. When he came home, he liked peace and harmony there. If the woman was going to make shitty comments and rock the boat, she’d be replaced in a heartbeat. “How about we focus on dinner? Julian and Tori will be arriving soon.”
Wyler stood. “Want me to start it?”
He shook his head. “No, we’re ordering pizza. I’m too tired to do anything other than use my brain and lift my hand to my mouth,” he admitted.
“I’ll order,” offered Callen. “I’ll get the usual and one loaded with vegetables for Elizabeth.”
She couldn’t wait until this pregnancy was over and she could go back to bacon, burgers and dead animal. This was the longest exposure to salads she’d ever had to tolerate. It was a good thing she was madly in love with little EJ, because normally no one came between her and the carnage.
Ethan wandered over to the kids. “Can I steal one, or do you plan on hogging all the offspring all night?” he questioned, laughing.
Winking, she released her hold on his son. “Have at him, but you leave that baby skin on him. I plan on kissing it off later.”
He tossed his mini man in the air and caught him, both of them laughing. “I missed you little buddy,” he whispered, kissing his chubby cheeks.
CJ screamed in joy and then riotous giggling broke out. All the sudden the boy went silent and looked like he was on a mission.
Wyler grinned. “He wants to yank on your hair,” he explained.
Elizabeth started laughing. “He may look like you, but he’s so my kid.”
Ethan pulled his hair free, and indeed his son went right for it and tried to eat it. “You’re just like your mother.”
She winked. “Callen, can you hold Cat? I need to set up that board and get ready for the rest of the team.”
Immediately, he was by her side, taking his little girl and leaving delicate kisses across her face. “Daddy missed you,” he crooned in her little ear as he breathed in the scent of lotion. “I love the smell of baby,” he admitted, and both men laughed. “What?”
“Son, you don’t ever admit that out loud,” Wyler teased, grinning at his boys sitting side by side holding their children. He was eternally grateful that he was able to be part of their lives.
“I’m with dad. You sounded like a girl,” Blackhawk said, laughing. “What a wuss.”
Elizabeth objected from across the room. “Hey! Was that an insult about my gender?”
He winked at her and she grinned, grabbing a marker. They watched her write down the names of the victims.
At the knock Wyler crossed the room to answer it. When he opened the door, there stood Tori and Julian. “Agent Christensen and Mr. Littlemoon, come in,” he offered, stepping back and allowing them access.
“Thank you, Mr. Blackhawk,” Tori said, politely.
“Please, it’s simply Wyler. The family is in the living room.” They all walked in together. “I have something that I was compelled to give you, and I hope you’ll accept it,” he stated, walking to a box on the floor.
Julian took a seat on a couch, Tori at his side. He watched the man carry it towards them.
“I started it when Elizabeth told me you rescued Agent Christensen from the VA.” Wyler placed the box on the table. “My son tells me you just recently became engaged, and I believe that’s why it needed to be made.”
Opening the box, Julian reached in and his face filled with excitement. “How did you know?” he asked, pulling the sculpture from the package.
Tori gasped in pleasure. “It’s Weeko and Wakanda.”
Julian ran his hands over the beautifully carved sculpture. If there was one thing he loved in life other than Tori and his horses, it was Wyler Blackhawk’s art. He owned one of the totems in his front yard. “This is amazing.”
“I had a dream of two horses running side by side, and it felt like it needed to be yours,” he admitted. “I see that it has significance for you, and that’s proof to me that it has the perfect home.”
When Julian had been to ‘Fort Blackhawk’, he’d loved the wooden sculptures that Wyler had made Elizabeth. He never sold h
is little treasures. They were always a gift, and this one meant a great deal to him. He ran his fingers over the ‘W’ on the base and grinned. “I love it.”
Tori jumped up and embraced him. “We’ll cherish it forever.”
Wyler focused solely on her fiancé. “I hope when you look at it, there is peace and calm.”
It was like he just knew the turmoil brewing in Julian’s gut. “Thank you, Wyler,” he too got up and hugged the man.
Elizabeth was glad to see Julian smiling again. If anything Wyler was becoming more and more like his father had once been. He was sensitive to other’s feelings and very astute.
“I think we’ll put it in our bedroom,” added Tori. “So we can see it every day.”
Julian returned to the couch, running his fingers over the wood. “This made the day so much better.”
Catherine began wailing and Callen tried to sooth her. This newborn thing was still very new and a little bit scary.
Blackhawk patted him on the leg. “Switch with me,” he said, standing and offering his son for the little girl. “I have the magic touch with the ladies,” he stated, earning a snort from his wife.
“Oh brother,” Elizabeth muttered as she laughed.
Callen swapped and cuddled CJ in relief. He watched his brother walking Catherine around the room, swaying and rocking her like a pro. Immediately, she calmed.
“Crazy mad baby skills,” he stated, winking at his wife.
“Yeah, when you start growing one, I’ll be impressed,” she teased back, as she sat on the arm of the couch. It was time to refocus and get started. “Julian, I need to ask you some things about your dad. Are you up to talking about him?” she inquired, gently. “If you can’t do this, it can wait.”
He thought about it. “No, let’s do it. I want to catch the man that killed him and heal my family. It’s an open wound that needs to be fixed.”
At his side, Tori took his hand in hers and squeezed reassuringly. They’d face this together as a team, just as they faced her past. It was her turn to carry the man that took care of her for months.
“What do you want to know? I was fairly young at the time of his death, so I don’t know what I can tell you other than the things my mom shared with me.”
Elizabeth understood. Her memories of her mother were limited too, except for the horrible moments of her death. “Just tell me what you know.”
“Okay,” he paused. “He was on the council as a full member of the tribal committee. My father was planning on running for Chief of the tribe. He was getting ready to make a bid for the position.”
“Please continue,” Elizabeth requested, interested in everything he was saying.
“The current chief had recently died and my dad had enough tenure with the council to pull a majority of the votes.” Julian squeezed Tori’s hand.
“Anything else?” she inquired.
He shook his head. “His favorite color was green, he had a temper, and was stubborn as hell. His brothers would let him win the fights because he held a grudge.” Julian closed his eyes, trying to remember anything else he could come up with. “I’m sorry, but it’s been twenty five years.”
She understood. “I hear a car. It might be the pizza,” Elizabeth said. “You’re doing fine, Julian. It’s okay.”
Wyler peeked outside, and it was indeed the delivery. He paid and was about to close the door when another truck pulled up. “Were you expecting more company?” he inquired, watching the Native man cross the parking lot.
Ethan was immediately by his side. “Hello Rick,” he said, stepping back. “Come on in. We’re about to eat and work on the assignment.”
He nodded at Wyler and entered the house. “If I’m interrupting, I can come back another time. I just figured I’d drop the files off that you requested.”
Elizabeth motioned him into the room. “No need. Want some dinner?” she asked, serving up pizza to everyone.
“Thank you, I’d love some,” he answered, taking a seat and watching the two agents with kids. “I didn’t expect to see children while you were working,” Longtree said, nodding towards the two small kids.
Handing him pizza, she smiled. “Callen’s holding our son CJ, Ethan has our daughter Catherine, and of course I’m toting around EJ. We like to mix it up and toss in a few infants to keep us on our toes,” she added, laughing.
It made him wonder how they had what appeared to be a newborn while Elizabeth was obviously pregnant, but he said nothing. It wasn’t his business.
“How’d it go with the files?” she questioned, biting into a slice of pizza.
“My staff went through thirty years of homicides, and although I’d like that to sound like a monumental task it wasn’t. We had maybe fifteen that involved a body. Of those, we found three that had a white feather appear on the crime scene.”
This piqued everyone’s interest.
Opening the files on his lap, he began breaking them down for the team. “First up is a man that was chief of the council. Harold Runningbear. He was victim of a home invasion. Someone broke in, stole some of his property and stabbed him in the heart. The file lists that they found a white feather weaved into each of his braids.”
Julian glanced up from his pizza. “That’s the man my dad was running to replace.”
Elizabeth chewed as she mulled it over. None of them believed in coincidence. There was no such thing. “Please continue, Rick,” she urged, wanting to know more.
“Second victim was Blake Littlemoon. He was found by his brother out in the forest, when he didn’t return from a hunting trip. In one of his braids, they found another white feather.” Longtree patted his friend on the shoulder. “I’m sorry, Julian.”
He simply shook his head.
“So we had two murders back to back and no one saw that feather as being a big sign something was up?” Elizabeth needed to understand how it slipped past the police.
Rick understood where she was heading with it. “That’s nothing, wait until you hear about the last one,” he hesitated briefly. “I’ll go on record as the current chief of police that there was a big slip up with all these cases.”
“Spill it Rick,” she pushed, knowing it was going to be huge.
“The third and last victim found with a white feather was Officer Kevin Clark. He was a ten year veteran to the department. One day he was out running, as he did every morning, and he was a victim of an ‘accident’. Someone struck him while he ran.”
Everyone waited, knowing there had to be more coming that made the chief of police nervous.
“They deemed it a hit and run, but there were two things that caught Kane Redwolf’s attention when he pulled the file. One was the white feather found under his body.”
Blackhawk needed to know. “The other?”
“He was the man investigating both the murders. When he died, everything he was searching for went with him. Back then there were no computer files or electronic information. Kevin Clark died and took everything he’d discovered with him.”
Everyone in the room was silent until Ethan spoke. “In this case, I believe it’s safe to say that the white feather has significance and is our center point. In Native tradition it means purity or wholesomeness of heart.”
Elizabeth knew that along with the feather, there was one other thing that kept popping up. “Is there a way to get a list of everyone that was on the council at that time?”
Longtree pulled out a paper, handing it to her. “I knew you’d be asking, because my brain went in the same direction.”
She scanned the list and glanced up at Ethan. “Here’s more coincidence for you,” she started. “Know who else was on the council?”
Callen knew where it was heading. “Let me guess; the shaman?”
Elizabeth handed the paper to her husband.
His face said it all.
“Yeah, and so is Chief Soaring Eagle- the man that replaced Runningbear.”
* * *
Christina was co
mpletely engrossed in her work and didn’t hear the footsteps. It wasn’t uncommon for her to get lost in details and analysis. Working for the Blackhawk’s meant being spot on and getting everything available, as quickly as possible. At the knock at the door she jumped.
“You scared me,” she proclaimed, hand over her heart. “Gez!”
He laughed at her jumpiness. This was a woman who handled dead skin without flinching, but a knock nearly did her in. “I was working at my desk and got hungry. Are you in the mood to join me?” Kane Redwolf inquired, holding a pizza box in his hand. All day he’d been stuck thinking about the cheery brunette. Part of him was hoping she’d tell him off and send him away.
It took her a minute to get that the man was asking her to have dinner. “Me?” She actually looked around her to make sure he was directing his conversation at her.
Kane started laughing. “Yeah you. You’re the only one here.”
It had to be a really good dream. Here was this gorgeous man with a sexy grin wanting her attention. Under the table, she pinched herself.
Nope, she wasn’t asleep.
“I guess,” she admitted. “I have to keep working though. I don’t know how much fun I’ll be. I need to have this to the Blackhawks by morning.”
He entered the room dragging a chair over. “I’ll help.”
Christina really thought this was the most unbelievable thing in the entire world. A sexy native man was just delivered to her door, carrying a pizza. Suddenly, she was very paranoid that she’s scare him away.
“What are you working on?” he asked, opening the pizza box?”
She answered honestly. “I’m comparing the skin of the victim that was left on his corpse to the skin particles that we found at the crime scene.”
Kane stared at the pizza and started laughing. “Wow, and you can eat and do that at the same time?”
And here was the big screw up that would make him run for his life. Sometimes she was just plain clueless. “I’m sorry; I’m not used to people discussing normal things with me. I spend a lot of time in the lab. I’m a science geek.”
Darkness Of Truth (An FBI/Romance Thriller~ Book 6) Page 43
