There were a few snickers from the remaining agents at their desks, as their boss busted another agent’s ass. Some of them even started at Tori with looks of sympathy.
The looks said it all. It was like the reaper had come to take her soul away.
“Well jingle fucking bells,” muttered Christensen. This was going to be one hell of an assignment.
~ Chapter Two ~
Waiting down by the Denali, Elizabeth observed the woman crossing the parking garage towards her. She was slightly shorter than her, but still relatively tall for a woman. Her red hair was pulled back in a ponytail, much like her own. It was the smoky, gray blue eyes that intrigued her. They showed all the emotion that her face didn’t give away. The eyes spoke a great deal of the woman. As for the clothing, where Elizabeth liked to be comfortable, Tori Christensen dressed in the standard FBI black, all the way down to her shiny boots.
Hey to each their own.
If she was more comfortable like that, who was Elizabeth to comment? All she knew was it was going to be fascinating to work with the woman. Since observing her in action in Cypress Grove, and hearing Julian Littlemoon rave about her, Elizabeth had to admit that she was curious. The woman found a black plastic garbage bag at the bottom of a swamp while diving completely blind.
That took skills and balls.
Elizabeth appreciated that in an agent. Women in their field were often discredited as being less effective than their male counterparts. Any time she found one that was ‘balls to the wall’ and could do her job, Elizabeth was beyond excited.
So far, Tori Christensen impressed the hell out of her.
“Agent Christensen, are you ready to start this assignment?” inquired Elizabeth, stepping up into the Denali, placing the keys in the ignition.
“I am, ma’am,” she stated, calmly.
Elizabeth started laughing. “Okay, well we need to have a few rules here, Agent. First of them being, please don’t call me ma’am, Director, or Boss. I feel old and keep looking around for my husband to pop up behind me.”
Agent Christensen nodded.
“You're my partner in the field. What do you call your normal partner?” Elizabeth asked, watching the woman carefully.
“Bob.”
“Okay, then how about we go with that then,” she offered. “First names are a good start.”
Tori Christensen kept a straight face. “Okay, Bob.”
Elizabeth began laughing. “Nice one. I know I walked right into that one, didn’t I? Usually I’m a bit quicker on the take.”
Now Tori laughed. “Yeah, you did.”
Backing up from the parking space, they began their assignment. “I think I may like you already, Agent Christensen.”
“Tori. If I get to call you Bob, then you probably should call me by my first name.”
“Thank you, Tori, but as much as I like humor, let’s go with Elizabeth. We’ll confuse all the men we work with, or my husband will think I’m having some raging affair with a mystery man.”
Christensen shrugged. “Works for me. I’d hate to see Bob get his ass kicked by Directors Blackhawk or Whitefox.”
Elizabeth grinned wickedly. “That would suck for Bob. How about you brief me on the papers in that file, and we can drive out to the last crime scene? I hear that the detectives in charge have been instructed to meet us there, and pass off control of this one.”
“It’s going to be ugly isn't it?” she asked.
“This one’s coming directly from the governor of our fine state. It may get ugly, but at least they really can’t argue with us over it. Their captain has been briefed and was instructed to hand it over to us ASAP.”
“Gotcha,” she said, opening the folder. “Okay, here’s what we have,” Tori read the file to Elizabeth as she drove. “Five victims. Each one was found in a different location and lit up like a Christmas tree. Victim one hasn’t been ID’d yet, but the preliminaries are that she was young. Maybe early twenties. Can’t give you eye or hair color. The body was charred up pretty good, when they finally found her. They found accelerants on the body.”
“Oh good. What did the killer pick of his ‘burn’ of choice?” she asked. The arson teams used the term for accelerants in the field. Elizabeth had worked a few killings with bodies and fire in her past.
“Yeah, not good. He used ordinary alcohol.”
“Well crap!” Basic alcohol was easy to find and get one’s hands on. It also meant it didn’t offer them a way to track the killer through supplies he used.
That was going to be a dead end.
“Okay, what about location?” Elizabeth hoped that would help them out.
“Our vic was located in a field. The burn was contained, because the ground was wet from rain the previous night. Although she was crispy when she was discovered, there wasn’t a great deal of surrounding damage.”
“Okay so a field. What about victim two?”
Tori scanned the papers. “The file doesn’t say location. It also doesn’t give me the victim specifics. I don’t think we have the complete file.”
Elizabeth thought about it. It was going to be either incompetence or the detectives were holding back purposely. It was more likely that the second option was the reason. Feds weren’t liked much, and that was fine, because Elizabeth didn’t really like detectives that sat on their asses that much either.
“We have the same for victim three and four. Victim five isn't even in the file.”
“Awesome.”
Tori flipped through the papers. “Director Rothschild sent dossiers on the detectives. Do you want to hear what we’re up against?” she asked, grinning. “So you can plan their demise?”
Obviously, her partner had heard about her in the field. “Yeah, what do we have?”
“Lead detective is a Cyra Austin. She’s been with the PD for ten years. Eight of those years she was a patrol officer and two as a homicide detective with the same house. It looks like she has commendations out the wazoo. The woman has worked it all, including vice.”
“Spotless?”
Tori scanned. “Squeaky clean.”
Okay, so Elizabeth had some hope that they weren’t going to be completely underwhelmed by the people that were working this. It meant that someone had a brain in their head. “Tell me about her.”
“Cyra Austin, single and lives alone. Mother is dead, father is alive. She has siblings that she seems to be close to, because her brother is listed as living three houses away from her.”
“Education?”
“State education, but had decent grades.” Tori looked up. “Does Gabe have a dossier on everyone?”
Elizabeth laughed. “No, his secretary does the research. If you ever met Maggie, you’d understand. She’s like the Kremlin. She leaves no stone unturned and makes the KGB look tame.”
“Is there one on me?” she asked, quietly.
Elizabeth’s gaze flickered over, and then back to the road. “Are you asking if before we met at the car, I researched you to find out all the facts?”
“Yeah. I think that’s what I’m asking.”
“Did you research me, Tori?” she countered.
Christensen didn’t have an answer for the woman. She’d heard a great deal about Elizabeth Blackhawk, but no one knew anything she didn’t want them to know. Even the ME and Anthro doctors were close to her, but never said jack about the woman.
“No.”
“Well, neither did I. Believe it or not, I like to find out about a person by talking to them. Rarely do I believe gossip.” Elizabeth had been a victim of that in her life. Ethan had given her the benefit of the doubt when they first met, even though he knew her past.
Tori nodded.
“I figure we’ll either end this assignment on a good note or hating each other. But that’s for us to decide. Not a dossier.”
Agent Christensen appreciated that. Possibly there was a chance of keeping her past private.
“Does Cyra Austin have a partner?” sh
e asked, refocusing them back to the task at hand. Part of her was curious why the woman was worried that there was a file on her. Now her interest was piqued.
Christensen scanned the file and found his name. “Her partner is Detective Brian Leto. Seems he’s also has been on the force for about ten years, three as a detective and yet he’s not lead.”
“Well in boss world there is generally only one reason that happens. I’m willing to bet Mr. Leto is a loose cannon. Their captain most likely made the more stable person the one in charge. It’s why Gabe thinks Ethan is the boss. Generally, he’s less likely to kill someone.” Elizabeth laughed, and Tori just watched her showing no expression, but her eyes sparkled. It was telling. This woman had extreme control.
“He too has a state education, but then don’t most of us?” Tori said shrugging.
Elizabeth let it go. She didn’t go to a state school, but again, the fewer people that knew that about her education the better. She liked that they underestimated her.
“Okay, I think we’re here,” Elizabeth said, listening to the GPS give the final destination.
Tori pointed at the two detectives. “They don’t look like they plan on playing nice or being friendly.”
There standing beside their car were two individuals wearing coats and side arms. As for body language, arms were crossed in a very hostile showing of aggression.
“I do believe we have our first glimpse at the detectives in charge of this case. Funny, they hate us already. Who would have suspected?”
Tori snorted.
Elizabeth pulled the Denali to a stop, and both women grabbed their coats, hopping out and pulling them on before crossing to the distance.
Both detectives watched the women moving towards them, and both had vastly different thoughts.
Cyra Austin was grateful she was going to be working with two female feds. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate men, because she absolutely did, but working with women was just easier. Less testosterone generally meant keeping more of a calm head. Cyra Austin liked her partner, but most of her time was spent keeping him from breaking the law himself. The man just liked to go off on his own tangent, doing his own thing. Their captain frowned on that a great deal. It was like full time babysitting, but with a gun.
Already their boss warned them. This directive had come down from the governor’s office. This was out of their hands, and if they played nice, maybe the FBI would let them assist.
One could only hope. Cyra wanted to be part of this in the worst way.
Detective Brian Leto had seen many things in his ten years on the force, but this was a new one. The two FBI agents walking towards him looked vastly out of place. The taller one looked like a model, with her shocking blue eyes and very pale skin. The second woman was shorter, with fiery red hair and pale blue eyes. Both looked about as competent as a runway models. Right there he had very little hope that these two broads would have a clue between them.
Just terrific. “These two look about as bright as a broken bulb in a box,” he muttered to his partner. Handing over the cases to these two fluffs was a huge mistake.
Elizabeth stopped in front of the detectives. “Hello, I’m assuming you’re Detectives Leto and Austin,” she stated, neutrally.
“We are,” said Austin. “You are?”
“I’m Director Elizabeth Blackhawk and this is my field partner Special Agent Victoria Christensen.”
Leto crossed his arms. “A director huh?” he said grinning. “What do you direct, exactly?”
Elizabeth didn’t like the tone in his voice. This man was going to be a jackwagon, and part of her was looking forward to handing him his ass. “Ever hear of a little building called FBI West?” she inquired, sweetly.
“Yeah, it’s the second biggest FBI hub in the world. I’m not an idiot.”
Tori wanted to laugh. Somehow she doubted that last statement.
Elizabeth kept a straight face. “I’m Director of FBI West.” She stated it simply and with no emotion. If there was one thing that she was accustomed to, it was assholes assuming she was just a set of boobs and an ass, toting a gun. It entertained her to know the truth. Thank God her husband and Callen weren’t here, or there would likely be bloodshed.
Leto just stared at her and then laughed thinking it was a joke.
“Detective, I don’t actually see what’s funny here. I’m Director Elizabeth Blackhawk and I head up FBI West. If you’d like to call the FBI and get my references before we start, I’ll go sit my ass in my vehicle while you check them out.”
Cyra Austin stepped forward, trying to smooth the waves. It was something she was quite accustomed to lately. Her partner was generally a chauvinistic pig. “I’m sorry Director Blackhawk. Brian meant nothing by it. Please, let’s continue.”
Elizabeth nodded. “Show me where the body was found, please.” She followed the detectives to the area that the woman was found and surveyed the location.
“When the police arrived on scene she was still burning,” Austin began, trying to get them all to forget the previous conversation.
“Agent Christensen, what do you see?”
Tori looked around the area and saw nothing. Thick dense trees, nothing around the body looked disturbed and there was a big burn pattern. “She had to be brought in by car, and then placed here for show. Just by seeing the burn pattern where she was left, I can tell that he didn’t use alcohol this time.”
Leto and Austin just watched them.
“The perp could have placed her anywhere in this field if he wanted to hide the body, but he went with the direct center. This was all about getting our attention and setting the stage.”
Leto rolled his eyes. Why did the feds always make it more than it was? This was about getting rid of the evidence, nothing more.
Elizabeth turned in a semi-circle, scanning the area. “He’s upping his method, which means he’s deriving pleasure out of the fire and the killing. If he just liked the burn, he’d take down a house.”
“Are there any other arson cases in the area?” asked Elizabeth, pulling out her phone and starting a text to Doctor Christopher Leonard.
“None.”
“How many bodies are still in house with your ME?” Elizabeth needed to know. Soon they were going to FBI West.
“We still have all five. No one’s claimed them.” Austin watched the woman and knew what was coming.
Elizabeth nodded. “I’ll be taking them to my building and having my ME do a re-exam of the victims.”
Yep, there it was. The feds were taking total control.
Leto stepped forward, angrily. “Are you saying we’re incompetent?” he accused the taller woman.
Elizabeth looked up from the message she was sending Doctor Chris Leonard. “Apparently, I’m speaking a language you don’t get, Detective. I do speak a few, so if you need me to try it again I will to accommodate you. How about French or Italian? Do you comprehend them better?”
He gave her a dirty look.
Elizabeth gave it right back. She’d stood down bigger, badder men in her life. Leto was a mosquito and nothing that couldn’t be taken down with a quick slap.
“The governor called Quantico with instructions and now this is my problem. Since it’s in my lap, excuse me for wanting my people to run some tests, find some trace, and help me figure out who killed these women.”
“Our ME is good at his job!” Leto demanded, still refusing to let it go.
Elizabeth shrugged. “So is ours, and since I know how my staff works, I’m more comfortable with them taking a look. Now, that’s my last request, because frankly, I’ve been handed jurisdiction and you really can’t stop me. What I said before was out of courtesy.”
Elizabeth cancelled the text, deciding to call Chris Leonard instead. The detective was hostile, and she didn’t want to take her eyes off him. His energy was giving her a bad feeling.
When Chris picked up on the third ring, Elizabeth spoke quickly. “Doc, we have five for t
ransport from the ME in Damascus. Pick up and start as if they all just rolled in from the scene. Get the paperwork from the ME there too.”
“What do we have, Lyzee?” he asked.
“Five fire victims.”
Chris Leonard began pulling up the requisition paperwork. “Shoot over the details, and I’ll have them here within the next few hours. Are we looking at unhappy campers?”
Elizabeth laughed. “Hell yeah to that,” she stated, watching the detectives that stood in front of them. “Thanks, Doc. See you in house in a little while. I’ll be there for the autopsies.”
“Figured you would, Boss.”
Elizabeth disconnected the call. “Okay, now that we handled that, how about you tell me about the files that are suspiciously missing from what I received?”
Detective Austin looked confused. “There was information missing?”
Tori handed her the file and waited for the woman to flip through.
Elizabeth noticed that the woman didn’t look happy. Obviously it was clear who had sent over the information to Gabe, and it hadn’t been Detective Austin.
Austin was ready to beat down her partner. Brian was supposed to fax it all over and apparently he didn’t. She warned him not to jack around with the feds and piss them off intentionally.
“I’m sorry, some of the papers must not have gone through,” Cyra covered for him. “I can bring the files and our notes to FBI West if you’d like.” Cyra Austin wanted to see what the inside of that building looked like in the worst way. It was huge and shiny and getting near it was almost impossible without clearance. This could very well be her one shot at getting a tour.
“Before you head on over to FBI West, how about you drag your CSI’s on out here to reprocess this scene and pull all the trace,” drawled Elizabeth. “I don’t have the time or the inclination to clean up after shotty work.”
Although Elizabeth believed that Detective Austin didn’t have anything to do with the missing information. She also saw the flicker of her eyes towards her partner and knew there was a cover-up. “In my world, when you screw something up, you fix it and not pass the buck.”
Fire Burns Hot ((An FBI/ Romance Thriller~ (Book 5))) Page 4