Discarded by Fate Read online

  Oh, he was well aware.

  It could be out of control.

  “Head out after we finish breakfast. Get your father, get him back, and make him own it. Detox him, and get his ass in line. I’ll hold down the fort here, and at your house, if you need me to until the family gets back.”

  “I appreciate it, Gabe.”

  “You held up our jobs when your wife and you were having a rough patch. You didn’t give up. I owe you this and more. Those wolves would have loved both of our jobs,” he said, referring to his earlier comment. “You kept them at bay so I could heal in peace.”

  “I really appreciate it,” Ethan said, eating his bagel.

  “I miss real breakfast,” Gabe said. “Livy has me eating green shit, and she’s already threatened everyone I know who I can bribe. My administrative assistant is under her control, and she got to yours,” he said, pointing at his fruit and yogurt.

  He laughed.

  “She read an article that carbs are bad for dogs with cancer, and she put two and two together and came up with nine. Apparently, they are bad for me too.”

  He continued laughing.

  Livy was over the top, but he got it. She’d had to face down something scary—losing her husband. Ethan would have been the same.

  “You’re lucky. Elizabeth doesn’t control your food.”

  “Well, I mostly do that to her, and I worked out before we got the call, or I wouldn’t be eating a bagel,” Ethan offered. “I don’t sleep when my spouses are away.”

  “I have to meet with the trainer later. I also have an exercise regimen, and that sucks even worse. The man is an asshole who likes to make me whimper like a baby on that mat.”

  Ethan was amused.

  “No pain. No gain.”

  “Really, Ethan? Really?”

  He laughed. It was true. He kept in shape for one reason.

  His wife.

  He wanted her to look at him with that same ogling grin he had on his face when he stared at her.

  That was important to him.

  “Do you want the other half of my bagel?” he asked. “I’ll share.”

  Gabe looked around.

  “Uh, what?”

  “Is this a trap? Is she going to jump out and catch me eating carbs, and then take away the next thing like meat?”

  Ethan sure as hell hoped not. To prove he wasn’t in on the food police, he slid it across the desk. “Lock the door if you’re so worried.”

  Gabe stared at him for a few seconds.

  Then he got up.

  And the funniest part was he did go over to lock the door.

  When he returned to his chair, he grabbed the bagel and began talking to it.

  “I’ve missed you. Don’t tell my wife, but I’m going to enjoy putting my mouth all over you.”

  Ethan found that hysterical.

  “Would you and the bagel like to be left alone? I can give you ten minutes to do your dirty deeds in private.”

  Gabe took a bite and then began making sounds indicative of something Blackhawk didn’t want to think about.

  As soon as he closed his eyes and chewed, Ethan’s desk phone began ringing. The man dropped the bagel so fast and stepped away from it.

  “SEE? She knows. What witchcraft is this?”

  Ethan looked at the screen on the desk phone to check the caller ID.

  The man was in the clear.

  “Relax, Gabe, it’s my wife—not yours. She doesn’t give a shit if you’re eating a bagel. She likely had one already and it was probably covered in dead pig.”

  “Oh, bacon. I miss bacon.”

  Ethan shook his head as Gabe grabbed the half-eaten bagel and sat back down.

  Someone was out of control.

  “Hey, baby, how are you feeling?” Ethan asked, putting it on speaker.

  “Hey, honey.”

  Both men stopped moving.

  “Who did you shoot?” Ethan asked as his tablet pinged beside him. Not only was she on his desk phone, using the word ‘honey’, but she wanted to see him.

  Oh, crap!

  “Well, ironically, we do have a dead body, but I had nothing to do with this one. Well, that I know.”

  Ethan grabbed his tablet.

  That was NOT what he wanted to hear.

  “Why are you in a robe and talking death? Why are you not smiling? Why is Callen not smiling? Oh, shit! I don’t like this call.”

  Well, she could answer that in one action, and it would speak louder than words.

  She turned the tablet Callen handed her around. “We found this when we woke up. There’s a…something on our couch.”

  Ethan and Gabe stared at the naked parts of the woman strung together like some sick movie prop.

  “Holy shit!”

  “Please tell me this is a joke.”

  “Oh, cowboy, I couldn’t come up with something this cuckoo. This is not on me. Some crazy has pulled up to the station and has gotten off at destination Blackhawk.”

  Yeah, he didn’t want to hear that.

  The woman, or two women, was cut apart and strung together like a marionette. She was creepy looking, and that freaked him out.

  “How the hell did she get on your couch while you were sleeping?” Ethan asked. “You have security. You have Ivan and Rory there with you and you’re in a private bed and breakfast that isn’t accessible. We use it all the time when we go to Boston.”

  She laughed.

  Well, that was part of the mystery.

  “We have no idea. Either they’re totally slacking at their jobs, or this was a special delivery by Houdini.”

  “Where are they?” he asked, getting angry.

  “They are outside. I can see Igor the Terrible from here. Callen’s guy is off getting them coffee, and we didn’t show them this yet. Ivan is going to stroke out, and then he’s going to think I’m messing with him.”

  She pointed at the body.

  “For the record, a plastic snake or jumping out of the man’s closet is my idea of a joke. A dead pair of women, strung together with piano wire, and placed on our couch…not funny—even though I chase crazies for a living.”

  Yeah, Blackhawk wasn’t amused either.

  Gabe was still befuddled.

  “How did someone walk past them and leave a body? More importantly, how did they get into a locked room with the best investigator the FBI has to offer?”

  She had no idea.

  Elizabeth prayed this wasn’t a sign that she was slipping. That would suck.

  “It gets worse.”

  “I don’t think that can get worse,” Ethan admitted. “What’s next? You found someone else in the bathtub?”

  “That’s funny. I hope you’re still laughing in about twenty seconds,” she said.

  Then she showed him the note.

  His face said it all as he read it.

  It went from worried to freaked out in under five seconds. It was a total Ethan response.

  “No way,” he stated. “You are not playing this game against some sicko calling themselves ‘The Puppet Master’. Elizabeth…”

  He saw the look.

  He’d seen it countless times before too.

  Oh, bloody hell!

  “You’ve already decided you’re going to take it, haven’t you?” he asked with a sigh.

  She loved this man. It couldn’t be easy to do the job he had to do, and then to be married to her? Sometimes, she wished she could be that sweet mother and housewife they deserved. Instead, they’d been saddled with someone who chased crazies.

  They were saints.

  “Your silence answers that for me,” he stated.

  “Ethan, my love, what choice do I have? I was called out, and the person left a body in our bed and breakfast living room. We are at a secured location, Ethan.”

  Oh, he was aware.

  They always used that bed and breakfast because the place had a separate building and security preferred it.

  Hell!

 
; Gabe used it too.

  “I can’t let this go, cowboy. I have to figure out how someone got past our crack security team and the cameras installed outside the door. Oh, and for the record, we may want to rethink this location. It’s clearly compromised.”

  Gabe agreed.

  “None of us will be staying there again. Chocolate on the pillows is acceptable. A body on the couch? No.”

  She laughed because she had to or she’d cry. While she wanted to go home to be with her family, Elizabeth knew she needed to do this.

  Would this killer get away too?

  Was it her?

  Plus, one thing scared her shitless. If this person got in there, what was stopping him or her from getting into their home? Security had dropped the ball on this one.

  That was a huge problem.

  “What do you need?” Ethan asked, resigning himself to the fact that his wife was going to take ‘The Puppet Master’s’ invite to the crazy party.

  He wouldn’t be able to stop her. They’d promised to let her deal with the work choices. His balls still hurt thinking about her kicking their asses.

  “I need Chris and Tony on a flight here.”

  He shook his head. “Sorry, baby, but that’s not happening,” Ethan stated.

  She stared at him on the screen, praying that the man wouldn’t pull rank on her now. She needed to jump back into her job to prove to her, and the world, that Bonnie didn’t get away because she was old.

  Incapable.

  Slow.

  Losing her edge.

  “Why? I need my team, Ethan.”

  Yeah, he got that.

  “I’m not telling you that you can’t have them, Elizabeth. I’m telling you that Tony’s wife is having some complications. He’s asked to have some time off to stick close to her. You’re without an anthropologist for this case.”

  “Shit.”

  “Yeah, but I can tell you from here you have more than one woman there. Her hands are African American, and so is her head. The rest is pale. You’ve got someone putting people together.”

  “As marionettes,” Callen said, trying to stay calm. “This is one cuckoo that we should avoid. I know you asked us to let you make your own work decisions, but I’d like to go on the record with this one and say we should steer clear.”

  Elizabeth heard him.

  Only, it wasn’t that easy.

  “I can’t,” Elizabeth stated. “This is multiple victims, and the FBI is going to have to step in at some point anyway. It’s better if I get in on the ground floor and get myself on this case. Plus, we’re not saying what everyone is thinking. People are telling me to quit my job and pack it in because I’m getting too old, I have kids, and I’m losing my edge.”

  No one spoke.

  “If I pass on this case, then that proves I shouldn’t be doing this. I’m not going out on a high note. If I’m done, then I’m done, but no one is going to tell me that. I have to make my decision. Opinions are like assholes. Everyone has one, and I’m not going to play by their rules.”

  Ethan sighed.

  She had a point.

  People were saying they should call it a day. Only, he wasn’t going to let some armchair quarterback make the rules. The Blackhawks had a lot more sleuthing in them, and they were going to show the world that the best was yet to come.

  “I’m in,” he said.

  Callen sighed.

  “I got your back, angel. I’ll watch your flank.”

  Elizabeth loved them.

  “Thank you for helping me to prove that going out on the high note is for pussies and losers. I am NOT a loser, and our team is NOT done.”

  They were in.

  Gabe had to let her make her own choices. He didn’t believe she was done either. Because you hit a bump in the road, it shouldn’t give you the luxury of being a quitter.

  With that, he agreed.

  “I say do it. In fact, I’m going to help you. I know the police commissioner in Boston. I can hook you up,” he said, moving around the desk to see her.

  Elizabeth homed in on him.

  “Are you eating a bagel? I see crumbs on your tie, and you have cream cheese on your lip! I’m telling Olivia!”

  “Seriously? You’d do me like that after all we’ve been through?”

  She laughed.

  “You have a body there, and you’re worried about me eating a bagel? You may want to reevaluate your priorities,” he said, handing what was left to Ethan.

  Blackhawk shoved it in his mouth, covering for his partner.

  “I was holding it for him. Prove otherwise.”

  Elizabeth laughed.

  Honestly, it was good to be focused on a case. With them being okay, she needed to work.

  “I can do this. I need to get my head back in the game. This won’t be the first crazy who called me out.”

  He wanted to point out Bonnie, but that would be adding fuel to this fire.

  “Okay, you need Chris. Who else?” he finally asked.

  “Christina, a few techs, and for Gabe to clear the way with the Boston PD. I’ll handle the rest. Oh, and can you have Chris bring my boots? I’m out of my element here with girly things. I don’t like it.”

  He made notes.

  “And my gun.”

  He kept writing.

  “And my husband.”

  He looked up. “Me?”

  She knew from the last case he was feeling like she didn’t need him anymore. Elizabeth didn’t choose him to go through the door, and that was killing him.

  “No, my other third one. Yes, you!”

  Blackhawk laughed. “I’ll be there. I told you I’m in,” he said. “I meant all the way in.”

  Gabe, while willing to help out, he couldn’t do that. Ethan had to handle his father, and they had work to do there.

  “He can’t.”

  They all focused on him.

  “Uh, why not?” Callen asked.

  Yeah, they all wanted to know why.

  “He’s going to be busy at the office.”

  Ethan was not leaving his wife’s side on this one. She was called out, and that meant all kinds of crazy was going to go down.

  There was no way he wasn’t going to be there to profile for her, and by the looks of it, she was going to need it.

  “Actually, Gabe, I can. You told me you could hold this fort down for a week. Tag, you’re it.”

  “I meant that I thought you were going to head to Damascus and handle your father,” he stated. “You know…to keep your faces off the news when he’s streaking naked through town,” he stated.

  Elizabeth heard his name, and her face said it all. There was anger there, and there was also sorrow.

  “Fuck him. I need you,” Elizabeth said. “He made his choice, and he has to live with it. He bailed on his tribe. I don’t care if he glues googly eyes to his dick, and starts talking to himself. He left.”

  There was no doubt who was on her shit list.

  Not Ethan.

  Not Callen.

  Not even Gabe.

  BUT WYLER?

  Yeah, the man was in so much trouble that he didn’t even know how much shit he stirred up.

  They both knew their wife didn’t mean that at all. She loved the man, and she was just upset. Elizabeth would forgive him the second she saw him.

  They’d bet money on it.

  Why?

  She had a huge soft spot for the Blackhawk men.

  She’d proven that repeatedly.

  “I’m going to handle that, and then I’ll be on my way to Boston. I have a few meetings this week, but I can do them via video conference, right, Gabe?”

  As long as Ethan kept Wyler from the front pages, he didn’t really care. Playing FBI Tsar was his jam, and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t love every second of it.

  “Yeah, you can.”

  “I won’t tell your wife about that bagel, or the chocolate on your tie.”

  He looked down, as if trying to find it.


  She laughed at the desperate look on his face as he tried to find it.

  Both husbands joined in.

  It was the first one any of them really had in the last few weeks. Maybe they all did need this case to feel alive again.

  How could they say no?

  They couldn’t. They wanted their woman to feel alive again, and this was one sure fire way to do it.

  “Can we keep the cops out of it until our team gets here?” she asked, hopefully.

  Gabe knew that was going to get tricky.

  “You know I’m always going to go to war on your side like I have in the past, but this one may be too far out of my scope. I can ask, but ultimately, the local law is going to want to be all over this.”

  While they could bend the rules, they couldn’t bend them so much that they overstepped their boundaries. When that happened, local law agencies got bitchy.

  Then they got vocal.

  The last thing they needed was anyone bitching to the media that the FBI—specifically the Blackhawks—were breaking rules.

  “I get it, Gabe. We’ll get our security in here first,” she said. “They are going to get interrogated. First by us, and then the local police. If you can, get us clearance with the commissioner.”

  He could do that.

  “Ethan, send me two agents. Are Seaton squared up for it?” she asked.

  “Well, Brody has a broken leg. It seems someone thought paragliding was a good idea when you told them to get the hell out of Dodge.”

  “You’re shitting me, right?”

  He wished he was.

  “Nope. He’s sporting a cast, and no one is going to believe he’s okay—since it’s his leg. Sorry, but he’s out of the game.”

  “You break them in, try not to get fingerprints on them or be called to HR, and they hurt themselves.”

  Callen laughed. “Well, maybe he did it on purpose. His boss is…”

  She stared at him. “I dare you to say it.”

  Oh, he wouldn’t.

  A happy wife was a happy life.

  Ethan had a solution.

  “I can send you half of the team. Johanna is raring to go. She can work in the field while her husband sits here at home.”

  “That would serve him right,” Elizabeth said laughing. “He’s going to get all the boring grunt work.”

  “Yeah, it would.”

  “Okay, then how about one more agent?”

  “Blue is in the office. Do you want a newbie? Or is breaking one in going to make you mean? No one likes you when you’re mean.”