True Love Lost (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 3)) (73 page)

“Well Christina will keep you safe,” snickered Elizabeth, and Whitefox joined her and the two of them enjoyed the look on his face. “At the first sign of rain, she’ll throw her body over you to keep you dry.”

Whitefox fist bumped
Elizabeth. “Good one.”

“Seriously
you two? Maybe leaving you both here together is a very bad idea. Who’s going to babysit the children?” he scolded.

“Ye of little faith,” she said.

Desdemona sat at the table. “I’ll babysit them,” she offered. “Really, Christina wants you that bad?” she asked, looking over.

“
In the worst way. All that stands in her way is Elizabeth,” answered her fiancé. “She has major boss-hots.”

Elizabeth giggled at the phrase. “I like that, boss
- hots. I think you just coined a new one, Callen,” she offered him another fist bump. “It’s fun to say and rolls off the tongue.”

Blackhawk sighed in exasperation.

“When I started at FBI West, my first impression of Elizabeth was that she was ass kicking and tough. When I asked Christina if she was as bitchy and hard to work for as she appeared, she told me that if I admired Ethan, don’t let Elizabeth catch me,” she answered. “Or the shit was hitting the fan and her fist was hitting my face. No offense, Elizabeth,” she apologized.

“None taken,” she answered.

Desdemona noticed her fiancé took Elizabeth’s hand and was offering her some reassurance. It obviously bothered her more than she let on.

“Generally, that assessment of me is true, but rarely do I beat down a woman because she looks. Now if she
touches, then I get mean. I keep saying this, but I am greatly misunderstood.”

Blackhawk kissed her on the cheek.

Desdemona continued. “She really had me scared that Elizabeth was vicious and mean when it came to looking at Ethan.”

“You were checking out my brother?” Callen asked, sipping his absconded coffee.

Desdemona laughed at the hypocrisy of his question since he was holding another woman’s hand in front of his fiancée. “Guilty as charged, but in my defense, it was before you and who in the tech lab doesn’t stare at Ethan?”

Elizabeth snorted. “Between us Desdemona,” Elizabeth lowered her voice and got serious. “There’s some ‘
how sexy is Ethan Blackhawk pool
’ isn't there?”

“Come on!” Now he was mortified.

“Well, there’s a
‘when’s Elizabeth going to have the baby’
pool. Then there’s a ‘
How many tats are on the boss man’
pool,” she said, laughing at the look on Blackhawks face.

“Twenty three, and I get half the money
if you win.”

“Deal.” Desdemona said, bumping fists.

Whitefox snickered, sharing a secret look with Elizabeth. It was one where he thanked her for doing everything he asked of her. Desdemona was now part of their inner circle, and he found himself even more in love with her. Damn it!

“There is one more pool,” Desdemona added. “But not sure you’ll like this one.”

Elizabeth was intrigued. “Do tell.”

“
There’s the ‘
will Baby Blackhawk mellow out Elizabeth after his birth’
pool.”

Elizabeth laughed
at that one. “I hope you didn’t put money on yes.”

Desdemona shrugged. “I have fifty on you getting worse.
Again sorry, but it was before getting to know you, so you really can’t hold me accountable.”

“Nice one. She fits in already,” snickered Elizabeth.

Callen was so damn happy that they were getting along, he actually kissed them both.

“Wow, you
just got to kiss two women in one day. That hasn’t happened in…never,” stated his brother laughing.

“
Awesome. You're just cranky because you know what the tech team is doing when you're off playing emperor in your big shiny office.”

“
Christina is easy to handle. Make her drive and she can’t check you out,” said Elizabeth.

“Great, so now this six hour trip will be that much more comfortable,” Blackhawk sighed.

“Lead in with Elizabeth being extra bitchy with the pregnancy and her threatening to kill people more often. You’ll set the bar on the conversation and she won’t check your ass out once,” snickered his brother.

Elizabeth saw the blush creeping up her husband’s neck and she went and sat in his lap. “I love you,” she said
, kissing him gently, and rubbing her hand across his chest and their hidden tattoo. “You can’t help you’re sexy, and if you think I didn’t catch the ‘hold down the fort’ reference before, I did, and it was very funny, Mr. Blackhawk.”

Ethan
hugged his wife, but his eyes were on his brother, and a message passed between them. He trusted the man to keep safe the most important person in his life, and his child. Whitefox nodded and accepted the job. No one was touching his sister-in-law.

Over his dead body.

Desdemona caught movement from the corner of her eye. “Someone’s on the porch,” she said, softly.

All three FBI agents pulled their guns at the same time.

Then there was a knock on the door.

“I’ll get it,” said Blackhawk standing and putting his wife behind his body protectively, despite her protests. When he saw who was at the door he holstered his gun and opened the door. “Julian, come on in,” he said, opening the door for the deputy.

“Thank you, Agent Blackhawk,” he said, nodding towards the women in greeting.

“I’m going to assume since you’re on my doorstep that means you found something that I needed to know about?”

“I found your van.”

Everyone in the room went alert at his words.

“Did you approach it?” Blackhawk asked, offering the deputy some coffee.

He accepted and took a sip. “It’s hidden a few miles back on a deserted piece of property. It’s not easy to get to with a
standard vehicle, and you’re going to have to have it towed out. I don’t know how it got back there, but it’s not coming out easily.”

“I appreciate you finding it for me. You do excel at tracking,” Blackhawk made a mental note of the man, and his skill. One never knew when something like that would come in handy somewhere down the line.

“We’ll have to hike in, and the woman might have a problem,” he pointed at Elizabeth.

“Oh no, y
ou just didn’t point at me, because I’m pregnant did you?” she accused, putting down her coffee mug with a thud. “I still run six miles every morning when I’m back home, and I can keep up with you men. Granted I don’t have your superior Native American DNA, but I just may surprise you,” she practically snarled, meeting Julian Littlemoon’s eyes.

“
You have a feisty woman there, Agent Blackhawk,” he answered, grinning.

“This feisty woman is going to kick your ass b
ack to your teepee,” she said, angrily.

As she moved forward, Whitefox grabbed her by the waist and pulled her against his body and locked her against him
despite her struggles to get free. “You better haul ass out to your vehicle and wait there with the windows up and door locked. She is a bit more than feisty,” he said, defending Elizabeth and still finding it funny at the same time.

Desdemona cringed at her fiancé’s
arms wrapped around another woman. When he dropped a kiss on her cheek and she leaned back into his body comfortably, it made her want to make a comment.

“
That’s probably a very wise idea. We’ll meet you outside, Deputy and follow you up with our vehicles as far as we can and then hike into the woods. How many miles?”

“Two miles in, and if I may say two things?” he said, looking over at Blackhawk.

“Sure,” he made sure his wife was restrained against his brother, before he let him continue.

“Whoever dumped the van there, knew the area. It was once owned by the
Boy Scout camp, same organization that owned the buildings where the bodies were dumped.”

Blackhawk considered that. “Okay and?”

“I happen to like and appreciate feisty women, and in the winter I use my cabin not a teepee in case you’re looking for me,” he said winking, placing the coffee mug down, and walking out the door to wait for the FBI agents.

“
I think that was an invite to his teepee. Now I don’t know if I’ve been complimented or insulted,” said Elizabeth, laughing at the look on her husband’s face.

“I liked that man too. Now I think I have to kill him
, but it’ll have to wait until after we retrieve the van,” muttered Blackhawk. “Doctor, you can stay here or drive into the station.”

“Well as much as I like a two mile hike in snow up to my hips, I think I’ll head into the station and see if I can get the lab to move a little faster on the DNA we sent.”

“Alone sweetheart?” asked Whitefox. That didn’t make him happy at all. He wanted her by his side at all times.

“I’ll be okay, besides the killer isn't after women. I should be more worried about you, Callen,” she said
, going to him and kissing him. “Please be safe for me?” she asked.

“You be safe, Desi,” he said, kissing her forehead.

“Oh look Ethan. See how he trusts her and doesn’t fight her constantly and make her feel like she’s a wounded bird?” Elizabeth grinned.

“They aren’t married yet, she can still say no
and leave him at the altar. He has to play nice until they sign the papers and then it’s a whole new game then.”

Elizabeth elbowed him in the ribs.

Blackhawk laughed. “See?” he said, rubbing his ribcage. “It’s a whole different game until you tag the woman and get the paper,” he laughed, dodging another rib shot.

“
Let’s suit up and retrieve the van. Later I’m going to show you what ‘tag’ really means,” added Elizabeth, grinning.

“I think I like feisty women now too,” Blackhawk replied, grinning lecherously.

                          *        *        *

The three FBI agents followed the deputy in his jeep up through the mountains outside Red River. They made their plans and discussed what they were going to do once they got there. This was a dangerous situation, and Blackhawk knew his wife was going to insist on going, and fighting her was going to be a waste of time.

He knew her strengths and weaknesses, and he was going to utilize them to keep them all safe. No one else was going down on his team, including his wife, child or brother.

“You’re seriously giving her the tactical shotgun?” asked Whitefox. In his opinion that would make her the first target if the killer was hidden and ready to strike.

“I am, because she has the best ears, eyes and reaction time. I’ve qualified against her, and I know how well she shoots. Out of the three of us, she’s most likely to hit the target if one pops up.” He wasn’t going to share the secret his wife had shared. It was his job to now keep it protected. His wife was an excellent shot, and had a past that made her more willing to take the shot with less guilt to slow her reaction down.

Whitefox wasn’t happy.

“What?” asked Elizabeth, looking back at him.

“She can’t wear Kevlar, and if someone was going to pick people off in order of most dangerous to them, they take the person with the tactical weapon out first
and handguns last. You know that,” he said, finally. “I’m sorry, Lyzee.” He didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but someone had to point the obvious out to them.

“She’ll be in between us
and not point man. Our Kevlar will protect her from the front and back,” he answered, trying to not think about what could happen.

“Callen,” she reached back and
rubbed his leg. “I trust you both, and you have to trust me completely too. We each bring something to the team, and I’m really a good shot and that’s what we need.”

Whitefox’s cheek muscle ticked.

Elizabeth hated seeing her best friend this worked up, and she looked over at her husband and the look passed between him. She knew he was carrying her deepest darkest secret. “Callen, I need to tell you something and you need to never speak of it again. It has to stay in this vehicle and then die with each one of us.”

He looked concerned. And took her hand that was patting his leg in his hand, leaning forward and waited for what she had to say.
Immediately their fingers twined intimately.

“I have a secret that’s so horrible that it could put me in jail and now Ethan and you too if
it gets out.”

“So tell me. I’d go to jail for you in a heartbeat.”

Elizabeth was overwhelmed with the love she felt in the vehicle. Having family was definitely complicated. Before both of these men she never had to worry about it getting out and now she had to trust them.

“You don’t have to tell me if it’s too hard.”

Blackhawk took her other hand. “I love you, baby,” he said, offering reassurance that he supported anything she decided. He trusted his brother.

“Never speak of it,” she said. “Promise?
Not even to Desdemona. It’s not the kind of secret you can share with a wife. This is my deepest darkest secret.”

“Absolutely.
I won’t tell her or anyone else. I promise.”

Elizabeth told him the same thing that she told her husband not too many nights ago. Because she was getting it off her chest with the two most important men in her life made it easier for her consci
ence to carry. There was a lessening of the guilt.

Whitefox listened to
the woman he loved and didn’t speak. It wasn’t surprising that she had gone after the man that hurt her friend. It was completely something she would do. Elizabeth just screamed ‘
justice
’, when he looked at the way she lived her life.

When she had finished, the pain was clearly on her face. “I can’t risk the people I love and if this gets out we’re all screwed now. So, I don’t know if telling you was a good thing or the worst thing I could do
to you.”

“How many of my secrets do you keep for me?” he asked, touching her cheek. “I’ll help you carry this one, and I’ll stand in front of you with Ethan on this.” He could see the pain in her eyes. “This doesn’t change a single thing in my heart about you,” he said it, and Blackhawk met his eyes in
the mirror, but he kept going. He was trusting that the conversation they had the other day still stood. “If anything I just love you more because I know if someone hurt me or Desdemona you’d be strong enough to help me find justice.”

Elizabeth was touched by his words, and by both men just accepting what she considered the black stain on her soul.

Blackhawk brought her fingers to his lips and kissed them. “You are an amazing woman, Elizabeth, and we’re very blessed.”

“I agree, and now the tactical gun makes more sense. I thought he was crazy to give a girl that gun,” he snickered, trying to make her laugh.

Elizabeth gave in and shook her head. “I’ll forget you said that, since I might be forced to accidentally shoot you in the ass to prove a point.” She leaned over and kissed her husband on the cheek as he drove, and then leaned back and gave her brother-in-law a kiss too. “I love you both.”

“I love you, baby,” he said, rubbing his hand over the baby bump.

“I love you too, Lyzee.”

“We’re here,” said Blackhawk, pulling in behind the deputy. “We’ll be using earpieces; it’ll make it easier to hear each other out in the wind.”

Elizabeth popped in her earpiece and listened to everything her husband outlined. When it came to arranging things preemptively, he was better at it. She was sure he had thought it through a few times already and worked in any scenarios. Her job would be to keep her eyes on the surrounding area. Elizabeth was sure that her husband had already given Callen Whitefox his job, and she would bet her paycheck it involved him watching her. 

Deputy Littlemoon stood watching them prep
. It was interesting to watch his Native brothers place themselves at the front and back of the woman. When he saw the head man give her the tactical weapon, he smiled. She was very feisty, and he appreciated that, but he only hoped he wasn’t giving her the weapon because she needed the most protection. “Shall we begin the hike out?” he asked, pulling on his gloves. He noticed the woman wasn’t wearing one glove. “You should glove up, frost bite can happen fast,” he suggested.

“Thanks, but if I need to shoot someone th
ey won’t hold on while I pull off my glove,” she answered, slipping her yellow tinted glasses on. They’d offer her eyes protection from the wind and brighten the area making her find any targets easier.

He shrugged. “Suit yourself.” Littlemoon gave her twenty minutes before she was bitching, moaning
, and having to be carried through the woods to the van.

“Which way, Deputy?” asked Blackhawk.

“Follow me and keep up,” he looked right at Elizabeth.

It was obvious that he believed she was going to be the weakest link and that just pissed her off
. It made her want to kick his ass. Elizabeth heard the voice in her ear, and it was her brother-in-law.

“He’s just being a dick, just ignore him.
We know you could take him while in full labor, one arm behind your back and with food poisoning.”

Ethan laughed. His voice came over the ear piece. “You can show him how bad ass you are later when you beat him into a pulp, but for now I need him alive to show me where the van is,” he
whispered into the com.

Elizabeth didn’t answer them. She was too busy doing her job. All of their lives were dependent on her not missing a single thing. She scanned and followed in the tracks behind her husband. Her trigger hand was in her pocket and ready, in case she had to fire the tactical shotgun.

Through the entire hike up into the mountains, the men in her family kept talking to her, and she would just nod or shake her head, and her brother-in-law would answer for her. When they hit the last clearing, she saw it. The tech van was hidden behind the trees, the nose of it sticking out. Someone had backed it into the trees in order to hide it the best they could.

“We’re going to have to call in a tow truck to pull it out,
the killer did a number on it with wedging it between those trees,” said Blackhawk.

“Want me to check the back?” Whitefox volunteered for the job.

“We’ll both go,” he didn’t want to leave his wife out in the open, but he didn’t want his brother going alone either.

“I’ll watch her,” said the deputy, sensing his hesitation.

“I don’t need anyone watching me,” she answered, scanning the tree line. “Just go and get it done, Ethan. We’re sitting ducks out here,” she turned and watched another area, scanning it quickly.

“Deputy, can you call the
sheriff and give him this location and have a tow truck brought out for retrieval? I don’t want to leave this up here any longer than we have to. If our evidence is here I need to keep it as uncompromised as I can from this point out.”

“Can do,” he said, pulling off his glove and dialing his phone.

Elizabeth tracked the movements of her husband and brother-in-law, watching the surrounding area, to make sure they were protected. In the trees past the van she saw movement, and got low to the ground to blend with the surroundings, watching the motion and tracking it. The figure or shape was directly behind the deputy. He was too busy on the phone to notice something was creeping up behind him. Then she saw it, and her eyes got wide. Out came her hand and the gun went into place, and just at the last second, before the deputy was attacked she pulled the trigger.

The gunshot echoed, the deputy spun and looked to see what she had shot at behind him. Blackhawk and Whitefox rushed from the trees, gun
s drawn.