Revenge has Come (An FBI/Romance Thriller Book 19) Page 13

  “We can work on it.”

  “I’ll take Ivan. I trust him,” Elizabeth stated. “The last few weeks, I haven’t seen him once. I’m going to assume he’s been lurking.”

  Ethan confirmed it. “He has been.”

  Yeah, and he’d been reporting back to Blackhawk every single night.

  “Ethan, if this is how we want to play this, then I need your security on our family,” Elizabeth admitted. “If she’s going to come at us, then she’s going to want to hurt me where I’m weakest. That’s my kids. They will be her target.”

  Callen didn’t like this at all. He really wanted to put Bonnie down like a rabid dog.

  One bullet to the brain.

  That would end this.

  Ethan agreed. “I’ll put the team on them. Ivan has an excellent record, and he’s good at what he does. I trust him, and I know that he’ll keep our backs secure.”

  Elizabeth trusted her husband, and family.

  They had this.

  “Elizabeth, are you sure you want to do this?” Gabe asked. “You can skip her.”

  “I can’t, Gabe. If I do, she’s coming for me anyway. Bonnie sees me as the ultimate competitor. I ruined their game last time. She’s going to want to hurt me to prove she’s smarter, better and more of a killer.”

  Yeah, that wasn’t happening.

  She’d had her heads-up, and she was ready. Oracle and Timothy also had her back.

  Yeah, there was no way in hell she was going to be able to avoid this. There was only one thing she could do.

  Fight.

  Elizabeth was going to face this head on and trust that she was still good enough to find the killer. Before helping Tori and Julian, she would have been worried.

  She’d solved that case and freed Beau Christensen.

  She wasn’t off her game.

  Elizabeth was still the same person beneath her personal mess. All she had to do was bring her out to play.

  If Bonnie wanted to do the dance, she’d saddle up and meet her at the races. This was one pony that wouldn’t lose. Elizabeth was in it to win it.

  She had some justice to serve up.

  “Well, I have something else you might find curious,” he admitted, catching their attention.

  “What?” she asked.

  Both men listened.

  This was going to be bad. Bonnie liked to be a bitch, and they waited to see who this would damage.

  “The victim…you knew him.”

  Yep.

  Here it came.

  Honestly, she wasn’t shocked. If Bonnie wanted her attention, she would try for people she knew. That was more reason to have her family protected.

  “Who was it?”

  “Cannon Austin. He was a defense attorney in Damascus,” Gabe said, waiting for her to get it.

  “Wait. Austin, Austin? Like as in Cyra Austin-Leonard? Her brother?”

  She pictured him in her mind. The man had been an asshole the last year to Chris. He’d been trying to get custody of Bethe, doing anything he could to steal her away from her father.

  They still blamed Chris for Cyra’s death.

  Shit!

  That was one she didn’t see coming.

  “Yeah, the one in the same. I’ll send you crime scene photos, but he was taken down in his own home.”

  Oh, this was definitely a message.

  If not to her, then to Chris. Bonnie knew who would be helping her out, and she was trying to weaken her team. She’d studied them.

  Here was the proof.

  Bonnie had definitely been watching. She knew that from the news, the world believed she and Chris were an item. This was also a shot at her to hurt a man she cared about.

  Loved.

  Well, screw her.

  “Wasn’t Doctor Leonard fighting one hell of a custody case against the man?” Gabe asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Well, that’s going to be awkward.”

  He wasn’t kidding.

  “Don’t let him touch that body, Elizabeth. If you’re going to use the geeky Doctor Death, he needs to tread lightly. He’s got a shitload riding on this too.”

  She was aware.

  Elizabeth didn’t doubt that the rest of Cyra’s family would use this to get Bethe from her father.

  Yeah, not on her watch.

  That little girl was hers to protect too.

  “Okay, Gabe. I’ll handle it. I’ll use Zane. Can you alert Miles Lane that Ethan and I are going to be arriving there really early? I want to fuck with two US Marshals.”

  He wasn’t surprised

  “Yeah, I’ll handle it. Fly into DC to connect, and I’ll have Ethan’s badge and gun at the airport with an agent. His jet will be fueled and ready. If you a need team…?”

  “I can call in mine.”

  Ethan had bad news for her. “The Seatons are off from work,” he offered.

  “Why? There weren’t any cases while I was gone?” she asked.

  Ethan touched her cheek. “Baby, his father passed away. Brody and Johanna are in Damascus cleaning out his house, and from Joey’s report, he’s not doing well.”

  “Jesus. I should have been there,” she said, realizing her near seven weeks away was painful to a lot of people. “I have to stop and see them,” she admitted. “While I’m there, I need to check in on them and make sure they’re okay.”

  He figured she’d want to do that.

  “We will,” Callen offered. “I’m sure they’d appreciate that.”

  “If you need more people,” Gabe said, “have Ethan pull them. As of right now, he’s on assignment with you, and you’re all back on duty. Keep me updated. Good luck, and Elizabeth?”

  “What?”

  “Don’t lose your head. Literally. Bonnie wants you, and she’s going to make sure you’re the ultimate goal.”

  She was well aware.

  Well, she had news for the woman. This was far from over.

  “Thanks, boss.”

  She hung up.

  Ethan spoke first, “You have to go tell Chris,” Ethan said, taking a moment to pull his wife back between him and Callen. They needed this moment.

  “I’m going to be fine. I have both of you watching my back. Our priority needs to be our family. We have to make sure no one gets near our kids. I want them on lockdown. No yard, no park, and certainly nowhere in public.”

  He got it.

  “I know we have it, baby. I just wanted one last cuddle with you. I know this is going to be a marathon,” he admitted.

  Callen felt the same.

  After a few minutes, they set her free.

  “We’ll pack for you.”

  She appreciated it. “I’ll be right back.”

  When she was gone, Callen looked over at his brother. “You’re calm. Why?”

  “I lost her for weeks. I won’t let it happen again. Bonnie isn’t touching our wife. I don’t care what I need to do. She’s safe, she’s ours, and she’s walking away with Bonnie’s head on a platter—if I have to put it there myself.”

  Callen wasn’t sure what to say.

  Ethan had gone from by the books to…something entirely different.

  This might not be good.

  Then again, nothing in their world ever was.

  Elizabeth knocked on the door that used to lead to her bedroom. When Chris didn’t answer, she opened it. Inside, her best friend was asleep on his back, a sheet slung low on his waist.

  He looked…calm.

  At peace.

  It was the first time in a while he’d let himself relax. Well, that was going to end.

  Creeping into his room, Elizabeth hated that she was going to wake him, but it had to be done.

  The poor man was about to be blindsided.

  Crawling across the bed, she rested against his side, her head on his shoulder. Her hand went to his abs, and she waited for him to wake up.

  Gently, lovingly, and with reverence, she stroked his skin to not startle him awake.

&n
bsp; “Elizabeth?” he asked, as he reached up to pull the earbuds from his ears.

  “Yeah, it’s me, Newton.”

  “Has something happened? Why are you in bed with me?” he asked. “Not that I’d complain,” he teased, “but this is definitely not a dream.”

  Ugh.

  She hated doing shit like this.

  “We have to talk.”

  He opened finally his eyes at the tone in her voice. He’d heard it before, and it was never good.

  Never.

  “This is going to be bad, isn’t it?” he asked.

  “Yeah, it is. We got a call from Gabe a few minutes ago. It wasn’t a social call. He wanted to let us know that we have a case. We’re heading out in a little while.”

  Yeah, not alone she wasn’t.

  “I’m in. I’ll get dressed.”

  If only it were that easy.

  Elizabeth knew she should make him stay there. Only, she thought about Bonnie screwing with them.

  Was he a target?

  Was he going to be next?

  She couldn’t risk it. He was joining her, but there had to be rules.

  “You can’t assist with this first victim. You can ride along, but you can’t touch him. You can’t do the autopsy, and you have to leave it to Zane.”

  That was odd.

  Elizabeth always used him as her ME.

  What had brought on this change in plans?

  “Why is this so different that I’m being sidelined?” he asked. “Why are you holding back?”

  “Christopher, it’s Bonnie, and she’s back to play another round against me.”

  “Oh, shit!”

  Yeah, he could say that again.

  “And she’s gunning for me.”

  “We won’t let you get hurt. I’ll be all over you like white on rice, Elizabeth. You’re mine too.”

  She gave him a kiss on the cheek. His scent was calming, familiar, and it helped her ease into what was coming. For the last three weeks, Callen and Chris had taken turns trying to help her focus. They’d doted, loved, and protected.

  Now she couldn’t return the favor.

  This was like a bandage. It was best to rip it off and go from there.

  She dropped the bomb.

  “Christopher, she killed someone we know, and I don’t believe it was an accident.”

  He waited for it.

  Chris knew her.

  If she was hesitating, it was going to be a kick to the solar plexus when she did tell him.

  “Just do it. It’ll hurt less if you don’t beat around the bush,” he said, bracing for it.

  “Cannon Austin was found beheaded in his home. His father found him, and there was a note calling me out. Bonnie started with him, and we know it was to get our attention and break the team apart. She’s now gunning for you, too, and it’s all my fault.”

  Chris opened his mouth.

  Then closed it.

  “I’m sorry,” she admitted.

  “This is a fucking mess.”

  Yeah, she was well aware.

  Chapter Four

  Somewhere Over

  The Mid-West

  A s Callen and Chris slept on the flight, trying to be ready for what was coming, Elizabeth couldn’t. She was up and reading the dossier that Gabe had emailed to her. Ethan couldn’t help but watch his wife, admiring that tenacity that seemed to spring from a never-ending well.

  Honestly, he wished he had that ability. As of late, he was feeling his age. The last seven weeks had been brutal.

  How she was faring so well…it astounded him.

  Then she started rubbing her casted arm on the edge of the seat. Profanity followed.

  Ethan headed her way.

  “Need help with that?” he asked.

  “No, I’m just reading.”

  He made a pencil appear. “I meant that itch. Do you want me to scratch it?” he asked.

  She grinned.

  “Well, Ethan Blackhawk, you sly Native, are you talking about my arm or something else? With you, a girl can never be too sure.”

  He wiggled his eyebrows. “Maybe both. Want to join the mile-high club?”

  She stared at him as if he’d lost his mind. She must be asleep or have heard him wrong.

  “What?” he asked, looking around him.

  “Who are you?”

  He sat beside her. “Last I looked, I was your husband,” he offered, taking her casted arm in his hand and shoving the pencil down there to scratch.

  “Jesus, that’s better than sex,” she muttered. “I think I just had a cast-gasm.”

  He laughed. “I’ll try not to be too insulted by that.”

  Elizabeth loved how the stress was gone from his face. There was calm, peace, and understanding in its place. It made her own heart light.

  “If you’ve ever had a broken arm, you’d get it. I can’t wait to get this off,” she stated, banging the pink monstrosity on the arm of her seat.

  It was hard to look badass, or be taken seriously, when you were wearing bubblegum pink to your elbow.

  She felt like a fool in it.

  A lot of that had to do with the fact that she’d been an idiot and turned her back on a killer. This was her constant reminder that when you were in the field, you couldn’t get distracted.

  It could get you killed.

  That mess nearly did her in.

  Ethan leaned back in his adjoining seat. “That day…I’ll never forget it. You were trapped in that house with Harvey Wellstone, and when I saw him push you…”

  He couldn’t even go there.

  It horrified him to no end.

  Seeing the woman he loved tumble, head-over-feet, down those hard, brutal stairs, had made him want to be sick.

  And when she’d landed at the bottom?

  The blood.

  The sick bend to her arm.

  The way she went pale.

  Jesus!

  It was part of the reason why he lost his control that day. That moment in time stripped away everything he had in the way of control.

  He’d nearly lost her.

  Then he’d pushed her away in frustration.

  She rested her head on his shoulder.

  “God! With each step, Elizabeth, I swore I died with each bump. I heard your body hit that marble, and I couldn’t breathe.”

  “Well, it was shitty, let me tell you. I had to go lax not to die, and when my arm broke…I felt it. There’s nothing like that snap of bone. You feel it to your toes. I hope to never feel that again.”

  And she wouldn’t.

  She was going to make sure she never got sloppy again.

  Blackhawk ran his fingers over the pink cast. “That tumble is a reoccurring nightmare,” he admitted. “I’m pretty sure I’ll have it for the rest of my life.”

  “Me too,” she admitted.

  Ethan continued, “The only other one I keep having is when I told you to leave and you did.”

  “I didn’t want to go, Ethan. I just knew that something had to give. It was going to be your anger or our marriage. Leaving you…let’s just say I’d rather fall down those stairs each and every day than have to walk away from you like that again. It was worse than death.”

  He held her against his body.

  Blackhawk was afraid to let her go.

  He needed to share the truth with her. “I died without you, Elizabeth. Nothing mattered to me anymore. I couldn’t eat, sleep, or function. Half way through every meeting, I’d think about how you used to sit on my desk, or try to lure me into a closet to make out. I want to tell you that I’m sorry. I should have taken those moments and held onto them, not rebuked them.”

  She shrugged.

  “It’s fine. You’re uncomfortable with public displays of affection with me.”

  He was horrified.

  “What?”

  “Let’s not go there, okay? I need my head in the game,” she said, shutting down again.

  There was no way he was letting her say t
hat and then leave it in his lap. Did she believe that he didn’t want the PDA because it was with her?

  What man wouldn’t want that with Elizabeth?

  She was amazing.

  “No, don’t brush it off. I can’t fix me if you’re still broken. I need you to be honest and you can’t run from it. That only puts a temporary bandage on the issue. We need to seal the cracks so they don’t split open later.”

  She knew he wasn’t going to like it.

  “I don’t want to piss you off.”

  “That was the old Ethan. I need you to trust that I won’t go there. I’ve had almost seven weeks to realize I had to change. I need you to believe in me.”

  She wanted to.

  “Please don’t lose faith in me now. I can’t do this without you, Elizabeth. I need my wife.”

  She relented.

  “With each time you told me no, it made me feel like you didn’t want me. It made me believe I wasn’t good enough, Ethan. I felt old, frumpy, and unsexy. Your job, that office, and our careers stripped away a part of me. I began to feel…”

  “To feel what?” he asked.

  “Like I was nothing to you. I was only arm candy when you needed a partner at some party.”

  That sickened him.

  Not because she thought it, but because he’d probably come across like that.

  “Oh, baby.”

  “Watching you play boss, it’s sexy and fun, but it’s scary. You won’t get shot, but I could still lose you. Look at the hussy who made a play for you as soon as I was out of DC. Every day, I have to face that fear. I have to stress losing you too.”

  He listened to her pain, and it killed him.

  “Let’s not blow smoke up each other’s asses. I’m getting old. I’m not twenty-six anymore. Hell! I’m not thirty-six anymore either. With each recertification, I have to bleed more and more just to get the same results. With each day, I stare into the mirror and see someone I don’t recognize anymore. Plus, my tits are bordering on another zip code.”

  He wanted to laugh, but he knew it wasn’t the time. She was baring her soul, and he wanted her to understand that she was being heard.

  And he could relate.

  He was aging too.

  “Baby, your breasts are amazing. I could tell you about all the brain porn I make up about your tits alone,” he said, keeping his voice down. “I also will admit, and you didn’t hear it from me, but Callen has one hell of a picture collection on his laptop. They are all of you. Husbands don’t look at things like that unless they really want it.”