Sacred Burial Grounds (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 2)) (50 page)

“What kind of diet changes? I tried to get her to eat a salad, but she isn’t big on listening.”

“Guys, I’m right here. I don’t think I like this new game
‘what’s best for Lyzee’
.” She hopped up on the slab to get up off the floor.

“She should remember to eat protein at every meal and increase her red meat consumption
. Elizabeth should be fine with some vitamins.”

Now he had her attention. “Lookee there, Cowboy. I get to eat more red meat. Aren’t I just a lucky girl?”

Her husband still looked worried despite his wife trying to make light of it.

“Ethan, I’ll call the doctor tomorrow and get some blood work. Until then I’ll eat a burger at every meal
.” Now she grinned. “Let’s just get this done okay?” She looked over at Doc, “Can we keep the pregnancy under wraps for obvious reasons?” She pointed at the cooler where all the deceased remains were being held.

“You bet, Lyzee,” he answered, prepping his tools. “Oh and congrats to you both.”

“Thanks Chris,” Ethan Blackhawk answered, grateful they had the best medical staff.

Doctor Leonard no
dded. He was surprised the man used his first name. That was something new and maybe Blackhawk was mellowing.

“Can we get this started
?” she inquired.                             

“Absolutely
we can. Mr. Whitefox, would you like me to do the chest down portion with your deputy’s face covered?” he asked, not wanting the man to suffer. This would be hard enough as it was for him.

“No, I’m good,
” Whitefox lied like a rug.

Doctor Leonard began the external exam
. He spoke into the microphone dictating everything in long drawn out medical terms, and when he moved to the abdomen he found something and his tone changed.  “I think I found part of the mystery as to why your deputy didn’t fight,” he said, measuring the size of the marks.

“Doc, what is it?” Elizabeth asked, yawning and trying to focus.

“There are tazer burns under his abdomen hair,” he pointed, showing them.

“Okay, so that explains why he didn’t have defens
ive wounds, so chances are he didn’t know his attacker,” she said from her spot on the table. 

“People don’t generally die from a
stun gun hit,” added Blackhawk. “Lyzee and I had to experience it first hand in training to see what it feels like. It hurts, but it isn’t likely to kill. It just freezes up all your muscles and incapacitates you.”

“Give me time, Agent Blackhawk. I
’m sure I’ll find the answer to all your questions.” Doc Leonard pulled on glasses with magnifying lenses and continued to search the man’s body, looking for anything that seemed suspicious. When he got to the neck, he found the slight bruising and pointed it out. “Injection site,” he said, turning the deputy’s head to let the three see the marks.

“He’s not only changing up the women he kills, he’s escalated to men and how he kills,” added Blackhawk. “That shows he’s desperate and this
probably wasn’t a premeditated attack.”

“We just defiled his burial ground, and the rains pulled all the bones to the surface
. He may see that as the same thing. If that was his last stash of bones, what’s he going to do, Ethan?” she asked, needing a profile assessment.

“He’ll be unpredictable. As it looks now, he was shooting at us, and playing dress up before this grave was discovered. I can’t ga
uge what’s next. We’re playing his game now and by his rules.”

Whitefox spoke up. “Did he suffer?”
He was still focused on his friend.

Doctor Leonard looked up at the man, and
he saw the torment in his eyes. He did what any good doctor would do. Leonard leaned towards the softer side. “I say no. He was stunned and then received an injection.”

There was no way he could answer that without toxicology and an internal, but he did it for his friend
and bosses. He could see the concern on her face for the man.

“Thank you, Doctor. If you don’t mind I’ll skip the internal. I don’t think I have the stomach for it after all,” he said, softly and turned to leave.

“We’ll be up, Callen,” Blackhawk said. “As soon as it’s over.”

The man nodded and just kept walking. He heard all he needed to
hear. The killer had taken the life of a friend, and he didn’t suffer. At least there was some solace in that little piece of information. Now he’d wait in his brother’s office until it was over.

Both agents watched him leave.

“Thank you, Doctor Leonard for giving him that peace,” said Blackhawk. He knew that the man couldn’t tell if he suffered or not, but he offered it up for his brother out of compassion.

“He’s hurting
so why make it worse. Shall we continue?” he asked, as he pulled out the scalpel.

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” answered Ethan, as he stood by his wife and worried about his brother.
Losing someone you worked with was hard, but losing someone you loved was even harder. Now every instinct in Ethan screamed for him to guard his brother and wife.

The
autopsy went relatively fast, as the man was in excellent shape. Post exam there were no other signs of foul play with the exception of the tazer marks and the injection site. His blood went to tox, and they just had to wait until at least morning.

Ethan Blackhawk
and his wife found his brother crashed in his office. Whitefox was asleep and looked peaceful. He turned off the lights and escorted his wife to hers. They both were beyond exhausted. This job was demanding and brutal, and they both loved it.

Elizabeth paused at her desk. “I have ID on the girl we found in Callen’s living room. Her name is Caiti Hudson. Age twenty nine, worked as a waitress at a bar in Black Falls
.” She pulled out the two photos. One from her driver’s license and one from the crime scene and taped them to the white board. “We’re still waiting on the partially decayed victim from the grave.”

Blackhawk was typing furiously on his smartphone.

“Email to Gabe?”

“Yeah, he left a message
. He wanted an update, and to see how you were feeling.”

Eli
zabeth gave him complete credit. There was zero emotion in his voice. “Want to talk about it when you're done?”

“Ye
s I do.”

“
Okay.” Elizabeth sat on her couch and kicked off her flip flops. “Come join me in bed, Cowboy,” she purred seductively, as she patted the couch, laughing. “I’m glad we’re directors here at FBI West.”

He wasn’t quite sure where she was going with this.

“Can you imagine trying to get us both comfortable at those pathetic desks the agents have or crashing in the lounge? We’re spoiled.”

“I’d sleep on the floor under my desk if it meant being beside you,” and it was the truth, he absolutely would. Blackhawk sent the email and joined his wife. “Please cal
l the doctor tomorrow,” he said suddenly. “For me?”

“You so want to control freak it to death and make the call yourself,” she
answered, teasing him. “Don’t you?” Now she was grinning. He was going to be just like Gabe. Her husband was going to try and run roughshod over her entire pregnancy. She could already tell.

Instead of pissing her off, it just made her feel loved and protected. It was his child she was carrying,
and he had a right to be involved and maybe it would chill him out.

“Would that make you
angry with me?” he inquired first. Yeah, he wanted to, and he planned on taking her to the doctor too. Every aspect of the pregnancy was something he wanted to be hands on with, and he could only hope it didn’t drive her crazy.

“Feel free and
I don’t mind. But they make you fast before blood work, so get me a morning appointment. You know how bitchy I get without food.”

Now he di
d smile. “I think I can do that.” Ethan Blackhawk kissed her on the lips softly and let her lay against his body, much like he had when they napped there the other day. It felt like weeks ago since then.

“Then it’s all good, Cowboy,
” she replied, running her hand over his chest, especially over the spot where she knew the tattoo lay. “What else are you thinking about?”

“It
isn't assignment related. I’m thinking about our jobs.”

“Shoot, I’m ready Director Blackhawk.”

He’d had been thinking about this a lot lately. “Know how we have to hire a supervisor in the lab and also a Liaison for the Native American community?”

“Yeah?”

“How do you feel about promoting Christina?” he asked, cautiously. 

“
That’s fine,” she yawned and couldn’t miss that he was still filled with some stress. “Really it’s fine.” Like or hate Christina, she was damn good at her job.

“Okay, well I want to hire my brother to fill the liaison position.”

Elizabeth looked up at him, wondering if he thought she was going to object. “I’m fine with that, Ethan. If Gabe clears it then I think it’s a good idea.”

“I don’t want to be Lia
ison when this is over. Frankly I’m ready to be out of the field, as soon as possible.” Something like doubt washed over him, and then he shoved it down deep.

“You and me both
.” Elizabeth lied to her husband. “I just want to wake up, come to the office, and control the minions to death.” But deep down inside, she didn’t believe that in the least. She liked being in the field. There was the feeling of life, as she was working the field. Deep down, there was a sneaking suspicion that her life wouldn’t be complete if she gave it up. Now, there was just convincing her husband without him losing his mind.

Blackhawk laughed. “Yeah, they love you for it too.”

“Hey, someone has to do it,” she said. “Seriously, hire him, and if he can pass the testing in Quantico add him to the staff. Your brother’s smart, easy going, and calm like you. Callen has enough common sense to do the job. Oh and there is that he’s Native. I certainly can’t do it. I’m, greatly misunderstood,” she said, laughing.

“Oh yeah that kid today will never be the same.”

Elizabeth shrugged. “Then he shouldn’t have screwed with my people. I get testy when observers judge our jobs. Our tech team is the finest ever assembled.”

“I heard them whispering when you walked away. They now think you
're the best thing in the world. Looks like I need to up my game to be the favorite one again.”

“Walk around half-naked,
and the women will vote for you.”

Blackhawk laughed and didn’t even go there with the comment. “We did a pretty good job of assembling them.”

“We did, Mr. Blackhawk. Now if we could just get them all hired and sit our asses in our offices- most of the time.”

“Will you miss it?” he asked, thinking about not being out in the field.

“Yeah, I will.”

“Me too,” he admitted it. “Except for the part where someone keeps trying to kill my wife,” he answered, brusquely.

“No one’s shot at me on this one, Ethan. I have a feeling that this is a personal thing. I just need to figure out how, and then who this guy is before he strikes again.”

“You will,” he
reassured her. Blackhawk trusted her completely. Elizabeth was really good at piecing together little details. “Are we going to be able to stay out of the field?” he knew his wife, and she ran head first into trouble. Not away from it.

“I can lie to you or be honest. Which do you want?”

“Truth, Lyzee.”

“I wouldn’t bet we stay out of the field long. We work well together, but I only have so much time left before I’m fat and wobbly.”

He kissed her on the head, relieved that she too was addicted to field work. “I can’t wait until you’re fat and wobbly.”

“Really?”
That surprised her.

“Yeah,
then you’ll be easier to catch and have my way with you.”

Elizabeth snorted. “Figures it had to do with sex, Mr. Blackhawk. Let’s try to crash a few hours. It’s already a new day, and we have a long one coming.”

“Sweet dreams Lyzee,” he said, sliding down onto the couch with the comfortable weight of his wife lying on his body.

“
Always, Ethan,” she whispered and then slept.

                             *   *   *

Outside the man’s little house, he stood. There was a card in his gloved hand and smile on his face. This was the man that started it all, and made him the legacy he would become.

Soon
, he would get rid of the other brothers and step in as the last son- the most prized one. It was all starting to come into play. The father must pay for his sins by losing the sons he didn’t deserve. Then he could come forward and make them forget about their loss.

He placed the card deli
cately on the rail of the porch and peeked into the window. There stood the trophy he desired. All he had to do was just grab it and run.