Slay Bells Ring (An FBI Romance Thriller Book 12) Read online

  “I hate sleeping alone,” he admitted. “Now I see why Eskimos cuddle.” When he wiggled his eyebrows, Elizabeth grinned.

  “We’ll cuddle later, since this is looking like our new home for the holiday.”

  He touched her cheek. “It’ll be okay. Nothing says Christmas like me trying to jump the virgin in the manger.”

  Blackhawk laughed. “Yeah, this ain’t a manger, and she’s not a…”

  Elizabeth punched him in the side.

  “Maybe we should talk about the case, before one of the asses is sleeping in the trees,” she warned.

  Blackhawk grinned wickedly. “Yes, ma’am.” He didn't hesitate. Ethan jumped in, telling Callen all that he could about Bonnie and Clyde. “They appeared over two years ago. They left bodies in California and New York. The Marshals have been tracking them from coast to coast.”

  “What do we know about them?”

  “They maim, torture, and kill. They like taking their victims apart, thus the heads. Somewhere, we’ll find the rest of them.”

  “Well, that’s sick.”

  Elizabeth added, “We won’t find them. There’s about three feet of snow everywhere, and we’re on a reservation. If you want to play hide and seek with body parts, this is the time of the year to do it.”

  She had a point.

  “What else do we know about them?” Callen asked.

  Ethan continued, “They’re some twisted spin on Robin Hood. They go after the well off, and they keep the spoils they find after the kill. The Marshals think that’s how they’ve survived on the run this long.”

  Well, now he had questions.

  “Why us?” Callen asked. “Better yet, why me specifically? On paper, you’re her husband. Shouldn’t this have been sent to you? Don’t get me wrong, I’d wear the bull’s-eye for my brother any day, but I’m confused as to why I was picked to be her partner in this.”

  Yeah, so were they.

  “We’ll have to figure that out,” Elizabeth stated. “Maybe it’s because they figured he was too hard a target to hit. Let’s face it—you and I are out in the open more. You travel, Cal, and I work in the field more. Ethan is generally locked away in the ivory tower we call FBI West. That place is a fortress.”

  She had a point.

  Ethan didn't like that his brother was targeted instead of him. He’d take his place in a heartbeat.

  “Well, I’m not that easy to take,” Callen offered.

  They both stared at him.

  Before Elizabeth could remind either man they’d all been abducted at least once, one of the techs stuck their heads in the door.

  “Bosses, we have company. The sheriff just rolled up. It looks like the airport alerted them to our arrival. He’s got a puss on his face. It’s the one that we normally get.”

  Great.

  Just what they needed.

  The last thing they wanted to worry about was the local law trying to impede this mess.

  When the men went to pull on their coats, she stopped them. “No, let them come to us. We’re standing our ground.”

  They all did what she asked.

  Elizabeth waited for them to cross the small area and onto the porch. She stood inside, arms crossed, badge clearly visible as it sat beside her Glock.

  “Who’s in charge here?” asked the older man, glancing from man to man.

  It pissed her off when he totally ignored her. Of course she couldn’t be the boss. She had ovaries and not testicles.

  Elizabeth and Ethan both raised their hands.

  “We are,” she stated.

  He walked in, ignoring everyone else. “My name is Sheriff Lester O’Neil, and I have to say I’m curious why you’re here. It’s not often that the FBI rolls in, and usually they announce themselves well before hand.”

  This wasn’t Elizabeth’s first day on the job. She’d eaten plenty of sheriffs for breakfast, and to add to that, she was hormonal. Someone was in trouble if they thought they could screw with her and the team.

  “Care to explain?” Sheriff O’Neil asked.

  “My name is Director Elizabeth Whitefox-Blackhawk. My partners and I are here working a case.”

  “Again, we didn't get notification. Your policy is to ask the local law if you can come in and run an investigation. As far as I’m aware, there’s no case going on.”

  Oh, he wanted to play it that way?

  It was on.

  Elizabeth shrugged. “I’m sorry, but aren’t we on Native land?” she asked, playing the game.

  Callen nodded. “Yes, we are.”

  He didn't look happy. It looked like they shut him down, and fast.

  “I do believe that reservations, or crimes on them, are not yours, but our jurisdiction.”

  The man lifted a brow. “What kind of crime are we talking about?”

  Elizabeth whistled. Chris and Tony trotted across the snow carrying the two boxes.

  “We had this delivered to our team. Director Whitefox was here working, and someone called me out. They want my attention.”

  Chris placed the boxes on the floor. The heads were sitting inside plastic, and he knew that would keep them from oozing onto the carpet floor.

  “Here you go, boss,” he offered.

  She took a pair of gloves that he handed her and crouched down beside the box. “We have a pair of heads.”

  When she took the lid off, the man looked sick. It was apparent no one had ever mailed him body parts before.

  Well, lucky him.

  He started gagging, along with the three deputies he’d brought along.

  “So, as you can see, Sheriff, we’re trying to find the rest of them or would you like us to hand this off? You and your deputies can play scavenger hunt out there in the snow. I’m sure that’ll liven up your day. Oh, but watch out for the Natives. They don’t like white men wandering around with guns in the woods.”

  He look mortified at the suggestion and the contents of the box. “Uh, no. We were just alerted you were on the ground, and we wanted to offer our services.”

  My, my, my how the tune had suddenly changed.

  Elizabeth wasn’t done with the man. He rolled up and tried to start a pissing match with the FBI. That was never a good idea. She wanted to leave a lasting impression.

  Gently, Elizabeth reached into the box to lift out the head. It was a man.

  He looked like shit.

  Someone had definitely abused him before he was dead.

  Chris watched silently. Normally, he wouldn’t let anyone touch the remains, but Elizabeth was setting the boundaries as she showed the sheriff that they weren’t to be screwed with.

  It would only make their jobs so much easier in the long run, so he gave her a break.

  Ethan was focused on the man. “Since you’re here, we’re going to need a morgue facility to work out of. You wouldn’t happen to have one lying around, would you?”

  The man nodded, trying not to watch the gorgeous woman holding a severed head in her hands. How the hell didn't that make her sick?

  There was no way he wanted to deal with this. Let the FBI run it however they saw fit.

  They were off this one.

  “Yes, we do. It’s right next door to our office. You can use it for as long as you wish.”

  Now that was the kind of assistance she was looking for in the local law.

  Elizabeth put the head back in the box. “I tell you what. We’ll deal with this, and then head there. I’ll be more than happy to let you in on the details as soon as we get them. We’ve only been here fifteen minutes. We don’t know much more than you do.”

  “So you’ll play nice?” he asked.

  “Hell yeah, we will. I always play nice,” she said, holding out her hand.

  The second he reached for it, she knew he realized what he did. She was gloved up.

  He wasn’t.

  The blood and goo was now on his hand.

  It had the effect she wanted. The man started gagging and raced for the door.
The second he was outside, they could hear the telltale sign of vomiting.

  Chris started laughing. “You’re evil. I can see you have the FBI Christmas spirit.”

  She shrugged. “Jingle fucking bells, Christopher. Hey, he rolled up in here with three deputies and their cranky faces on. I’m absolutely calm. When you start out aggressive, it never ends well. That’s why I always try to play nice.”

  All the men began laughing at that.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Yeah, right,” Callen stated. “You’re the queen of aggression. You tend to make pit bulls look tame.”

  Elizabeth shrugged.

  “I think you’ve got me confused with my twin sister. She’s the queen of withholding sex. I’m sure you don’t want her to visit and set you straight.”

  Ethan laughed.

  Callen looked mortified.

  That wouldn’t work for him. He was trying to have another child. He needed as much bed time as possible. In fact, he wanted to slide into her chimney as they stood there.

  “I retract my previous statement.”

  She snorted. “I thought so.”

  “Boss, we’re going to take the heads over to the morgue. We have one woman and one male. We’ll start the process of stripping them for trace and ID,” Tony offered.

  She was good with that.

  “We’re going to start breaking down what we know and the note,” Elizabeth stated. “I want everyone paired up for safety’s sake. It’s almost Christmas, so let’s not take unnecessary chances.”

  He understood.

  When they were gone, they all took a seat on the large couch.

  “Where’s the note?” Ethan asked.

  Callen immediately pulled it out. It was sealed in a large storage bag. “I didn't want to get the evidence contaminated.”

  Later, they’d let the lab team pull trace. For now, they wanted to compare it against the other notes Bonnie and Clyde had left across the country and in California. The federal database had them scanned in, and they were going to use the Marshal’s legwork to get a jumping off point.

  Ethan held it in his hands. As he read it, again, he was still sickened by it.

  “I know. It freaks me out too,” Callen admitted. “I've read it a few times, and I want to puke each and every time I look at it.”

  Ethan passed it off to Elizabeth. As she held it up to the light, she saw something.

  “Wait.”

  They both glanced over.

  “What?” they said at the same time.

  “There’s a watermark of sorts.”

  They moved closer, and Elizabeth moved the paper until the ceiling light caught it.

  “She’s right. It’s right there.”

  Ethan grinned. This was why he loved working with her. Despite her carrying all this weight on her shoulders, their woman was so good at her job that it was coming through.

  It was like riding a bike.

  He didn't doubt that his wife was back in control. They’d isolated all the things that could go wrong, and now she could focus.

  The kids were safe.

  Callen wasn’t alone.

  It was time for Elizabeth to kick some ass.

  As her husband, it was going to be fun to watch. If their holiday was ruined, someone had to pay, There was no doubt who she’d take it out on.

  As the door opened, they all looked over. Agents Madden and Seaton rushed in to get out of the cold.

  “Bosses, the techs headed out. We did a search through the area surrounding the cabin, but it snowed sometime last night. We don’t have any visible footprints or tire treads,” Johanna stated.

  Elizabeth pointed toward the chairs. “Have a seat and get comfortable. We have a water mark, and I need one of you to tell me what it is.”

  Brody pulled out a pair of gloves and slipped into them. When he opened his tablet, they all watched.

  “I can scan it and then change up the resolution to make it easier to read, Directors. Once I do, we should see the negative impression.”

  As the young agent got to work on handling it, they waited patiently.

  Working carefully, placing the letter on the tablet in just the right position. All the while, no one spoke. Agent Seaton was just back from leave, and he looked like he was in his glory.

  “You know when you smile on a crime scene, people think you’re crazy,” Elizabeth stated.

  He couldn’t help himself.

  “I’m sorry, boss. It’s just that I’ve missed this. Now that my arm is better, I’m glad to be back at work. You can only watch so many soaps before your brain goes to mush.”

  Johanna snorted, and then she covered it with a cough. “Sorry, ma’am. I caught him watching them. It was pathetic.”

  “I was even watching the same Christmas movies over and over. I actually contemplated buying a leg lamp before sanity set back in.”

  Elizabeth grinned. The two agents before her were working out well. Yes, they were an unofficial couple, and no one knew about it, but that was perfect.

  This was all supposed to be kept quiet, and they’d managed to do just that.

  It wasn’t easy keeping a relationship under wraps. After all, they knew that better than anyone. One kiss, and Callen had gotten them plastered across the evening news.

  People were nosey.

  “It’s done,” Brody stated, moving the paper back into the plastic bag to further protect any evidence.

  When he handed his boss the tablet, she stared at him. “It looks like coordinates. This isn't a water mark. Someone left this here for us to find.”

  42.2464° N 99.7418° W

  It appeared they were definitely playing a game with Bonnie and Clyde.

  “What do you think they mean?” Callen asked.

  Johanna pulled out her tablet and got to work. As she searched them, the team patiently waited.

  “I think I found it. The general location is in town, but if you pinpoint it to the nearest degree, it’s actually a building in the business district.”

  Interesting.

  Ethan glanced over at his wife. “They wanted you to find this. They want you to head there.”

  She was well aware.

  Callen cursed. “Shit! It’s a trap, Lyzee. You can’t go there. We’re doing exactly what they want.”

  She thought about it.

  “We don’t have any choice,” she offered. “They want me to play, and I have to do it. We can’t ignore it.”

  Neither agent spoke.

  As they sat there, both Johanna and Brody read over the note.

  “Man. I’m sorry, Directors. Bonnie and Clyde are out of their damn minds,” Johanna offered.

  Yeah, they were well aware.

  “We’ll have your backs,” Brody stated. They absolutely would. The only reason he had his Joey back was because the woman before them was a good person.

  “Thank you,” she stated, “but I want you to watch your backs too. From what Ethan has dug up, they’re crazy, and they take their victims in pairs.”

  Brody took a chance, dropping his hand on Johanna’s leg. When none of the directors made a comment, he relaxed.

  Well, marginally. He didn't want the crazies after Joey. That made him want to be sick.

  “What are we going to do with the coordinates?” Johanna asked. “Are we heading there?”

  What could they do?

  The game was afoot. Despite all of their gut feelings, it didn't change anything.

  They had to face it.

  “It looks like we’re going to take a road trip to a building in the business district,” she offered.

  Callen groaned.

  Ethan closed his eyes and rubbed them with his fingers to ease the tension.

  It was crystal clear.

  That was the last thing the men wanted to hear.

  * * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *

  One Hour Later

  Johanna Madden and Broderick Seaton followed the bosses in
their Denali. It was good to be back out in the field, and they were grateful to be together once more.

  Hell!

  They didn't even mind working with Christmas looming up ahead. As soon as they heard the bosses were heading out on a case, they volunteered to take one for the FBI team. After all, they owed them.

  They were together, and that’s all that mattered.

  As Brody drove, Johanna held his hand in her lap. It was something he’d always longed for, and now it was coming true.

  He had his other half.

  Yes, they were supposed to keep it low key, but who would know if they shared a few private moments on the way to a scene? They were out in the middle of nowhere, following the bosses to some abandoned building, and it was likely going to be a mess.

  “This is amazing,” he stated, glancing over. “I can’t believe we’re back in the saddle together.”

  She laughed. “Yeah, I’m glad we’re partners again. It feels right.”

  Yeah, it really did.

  “This is my Christmas present,” he offered. “All I wanted was you for my gift, and I’ve gotten that. There’s nothing left to ask for.”

  She smiled at him.

  Sadly, Brody was lying. There was one more thing he wanted, and it involved her saying ‘I do’. Instead of going there, he let it go.

  “You’re my present too,” she offered. “Well, you in handcuffs,” Johanna teased. “Now that the cast is off, may the fun begin.”

  He snorted. “You’re such a perv. I’m a lucky man.”

  As they drove, Brody’s phone began ringing. The tone gave away the caller. “It’s my dad. Let it go to voice mail. I’m in too good of a mood to deal with him right now.”

  Johanna didn't make a comment.

  As of late, Brody was trying to be more understanding. After Johanna’s mother appeared out of nowhere, he’d begun trying to mend his and Levi’s fences.

  So far, it wasn’t too bad.

  They’d had him over a few times, and no one erupted, so that was a good thing. As for Johanna and her mother, the woman had been persistently stalking her daughter.

  She’d continued to show up uninvited, and Brody continued to tell her to beat it. He had to give the woman an A for effort, but F for parenting.