Fire Burns Hot ((An FBI/ Romance Thriller~ (Book 5)))

by Kelley, Morgan

  Whitefox shrugged. “When did Tiffany go to The Pussy Cat Club?” he inquired.

  “Tiff left here a couple weeks ago. She wasn’t getting the money she needed to survive. All she wanted was out of prostituting.”

  Callen led him to the door. “Thanks for that. What’s your name?”

  “William Thomas.”

  “You’re going for a ride to FBI West. As long as you don’t have any priors, or warrants you’ll be out before you know it,” said Callen. Walking him over to the transport vehicle and loading him in.

  “Come on, it’s Christmas. Have a heart!”

  “I am. I could hold you until Monday. Now if you’re smart you’ll take a ride and distance yourself from Marla. She just tried to commit a serious crime. As of now, you’re looking at a slap on the wrist.” He buckled the seatbelt and slammed the door, tapping on the driver’s window. “Director Blackhawk has one more to transport.”

  “Yes Sir.”

  Both men looked over to watch Elizabeth drag a fighting woman from the club. She was trying to kick her and get away from Elizabeth. “Cal, can you help me out?” She didn’t want to take a stomach shot from the woman acting like an idiot.

  “Sure, Lyzee,” he said, loading the woman into the transport and buckling her in.

  Elizabeth went to the window. “Run him and if he’s clean spring him. She’s bought herself a fire arms charge. Place her in holding until I get in to talk to her. Run her and I’ll bet my next paycheck, she’ll pull a parole violation for weapons. People don’t just decide to play with sawed off shotguns. Marla has prison tattoos, so it looks like she’s been inside before and is going back.”

  “You're a bitch! I’ll find you!” she screamed from the back seat. “I’ll fuck you up!”

  “Yada yada yada. You think you’re the first to threaten me?” Elizabeth taunted her. “I’ve had scarier nut bags after me that didn’t hang out in low rate strip clubs.”

  “I’m going to kill you!”

  Now she grinned. “Agent, did you hear her threaten to cause malicious intent on my person?” she asked the driver. “And that she was planning on stalking a federal agent with the intent to cause me bodily harm?”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “Book her on that too.” Now she waved at the woman as they drove away. “It’s a good day to piss off the seedy element.”

  Whitefox laughed. “Nut bags? That was a new one.”

  “Yeah, well I’m running out of Indian comments. I guess I have to branch out to offend more people.”

  Callen grinned at the woman he loved. “You’re too much.”

  Elizabeth shrugged and refocused. “I’m glad you saw that gun, Cal, or you could have been hurt,” she said, stopping and taking his face in her hands.

  “I’m okay, angel,” he replied, kissing her gently. “No worries. This isn’t my first day at the rodeo.”

  Elizabeth stared open mouthed. “Did you just swipe my adage and use it against me after I just told you I’m out of sayings?”

  There was masculine laughter as he winked salaciously. “I do declare that I think I did,” he drawled, mimicking her.

  “That’s so not fair. How am I supposed to play Indian?” she asked, hopping up into the Denali.

  Callen dropped on his sunglasses and grinned even more at his woman. “I’m sure you can find some sexy Native costume and teach me a lesson.”

  Working with Callen was completely different than when she partnered up with Ethan. He was more laid back, laughed more and was definitely the lecherous one. “Careful what you ask for, darlin’. Anyway, last place on the list?”

  “Yeah, let’s head there.”

  Elizabeth let Callen drive because her heart was still pounding in her chest. On the outside she was smiling and laughing, but inside her stomach rolled with the possibilities. The close proximity of Marla to Callen with that gun would have killed him instantly. “When we get to the next place, let’s suit up,” she said, thinking about him and the growing life in her body.

  That surprised the hell out of him. Normally she didn’t suit up unless there was a dire situation and the men forced her. “You're pretty rattled over that sawed off.”

  “Yeah, I am.” Elizabeth didn’t elaborate. It wasn’t the gun per say, but the green agent that could have been hurt. Losing either of the men in her life would be crushing.

  “Okay sweetheart, let’s suit up.”

  “Thank you, Callen,” she said, accepting his hand and twining their fingers together.

  “Anything for you, angel.”

  Tori and Julian pulled into ‘The Pussy Cat Club’ and glanced around. “Finally our last one,” stated Tori, pulling out the pictures.

  “Looking forward to tonight?” he asked, grinning.

  After he gave her the necklace that obviously meant something to him, she decided to give him something back. “Yeah, but only because I’ll be there with you. I wouldn’t go if you weren’t my date.”

  He stared at her like she lost her mind. “Did you just say something nice to me?” Julian began laughing. “Willingly?”

  “I did,” she said, laughing with him. “Am I that horrible to you that you need to look surprised?”

  Julian didn’t have an answer for that. “It’s hit or miss with you,” he stated honestly, and it was. One minute she ran hot, and then one was ice cold. Getting his footing was tricky.

  Tori regretted dragging him through the ringer. “I’m sorry I’m difficult, Julian. If it matters, I don’t mean to be this way.”

  Now he smiled gently at her. “I’m a glutton for punishment. What can I say?”

  “Come on, I have a date tonight,” she stated, with a straight face and then winked at him.

  “Lucky him,” Julian added, and knew that was the truth. Just her easy manner at that moment was giving him hope for the evening.

  Walking across the parking lot, her phone beeped, and she pulled it out. It was a text from Elizabeth. “They got a hit on one of the pictures. Victim five is a woman named Tiffany. She used to work at another club, until she headed here.”

  “Are we leading in with that?” he asked, opening the door and holding it for her.

  “Yeah, she’s the only name we have except for the two that were already ID’d. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

  Julian snickered.

  “What?” she asked, confused by the humor in what she said.

  “I wouldn’t throw ‘getting lucky’ around in a strip club.” He grinned wickedly, teasing her.

  Tori shook her head. “I’d ask how familiar you are with strip clubs, but I don’t think I want to know.”

  “I’ll tell you about my brother’s bachelor party sometime. It’s quite the story, for him anyway.”

  “Spare me the details on that one,” she muttered. Stepping into the club was vastly different than the others. Where they seemed seedy, this club appeared to be on the high end. “This club caters to different clientele,” she whispered, keeping her voice low.

  “You can tell,” he said, scanning the room. The girls didn’t look strung out, or like they were working the streets. The other club screamed desperate for business. Not that he was an expert on strippers. Julian had only been to one club once before and that nearly ended in arrest. A bunch of Natives intermingling with the outsiders and booze was a disaster at best.

  Tori slid up to the bar and smiled at the man behind the counter. “Hi, can I ask you if Tiffany is here?”

  The man shook his head. “Haven’t seen her for about five days. Are you and your husband one of her regulars?” he inquired.

  Now they had clarification. “No, but I need to ask you some questions.” Tori pulled out her badge and dropped it on the counter. “If you help me out, I keep this where no one else can see it. If you don’t help me out, then I have twenty agents in here harassing your clients and asking uncomfortable questions that they may not have answers for at this time.”

  He nodded. “What can I do for you
? I run an upscale place and all my girls file paperwork.”

  The man thought it was a tax thing. “Can you identify some women for me?” she asked.

  He shrugged. “If I can I will.”

  Tori laid out the photos and watched his face. “This one’s Tiffany Markel.” Then he looked at photo number four. “This one looks like Sarah Royce, but I could be wrong.”

  That was two out of the five that the bartender could ID. Then it occurred to her. “Are any of your girls missing?” she inquired, thinking about the victim they just found this morning.

  “Yeah, how did you know?”

  “What can you tell me about her?” Julian asked, moving to lean against the bar. “You know as in her physical description. Then we’ll go from there.”

  “She was working last night, took a break, and never came back,” he said shrugging. “It’s odd that she’d do that, because this was how she funded her college education. Without stripping, there was no book money for the next semester,” he paused before continuing, “She isn’t in any kind of trouble is she?”

  “Describe her please?” asked Tori again, trying to keep the man on track and controlling the questioning.

  He shrugged. “I don’t know the specifics, but maybe this tall.” He held his hand up to his shoulder. “I’d say skinny, but not as thin as you, Agent. She was curvier and woman-like.”

  Tori didn’t know if she should be insulted or not. Julian must have read the expression on her face, because his hand went to her lower back, in some silent message.

  “She has brown eyes and her hair color changed often. ‘Sparkle’ was her stage name but her real name was Lisa Delius. I think that she worked here about two weeks maybe a few days more. As for her customers, the men loved her. She loved her job and was damn good at it.”

  Tori looked over at Julian. “Call Elizabeth. I think we found ground zero. The boss is going to want to be here and see this,” she said, knowing he’d understand.

  They found their killer’s playground.

  ~ Chapter Eight ~

  Friday Afternoon

  Nothing made Elizabeth more excited than getting another piece of the puzzle. It meant that they were one step closer to finding out who was stealing the lives of their victims. Once she received Julian’s call, it made her day that much brighter. Now they had a starting point. Who knew ‘The Pussy Cat Club’ would have some redeeming qualities after all?

  Walking in, Elizabeth was astounded by the fur and hot pink colors everywhere. It was like the inside of a gumball machine threw up all over the place. Well, that and they skinned a bunch of pink furred cats and thought it would be great on the walls.

  “What the hell?” she muttered, getting a headache just looking at it all. “I don’t think I even have words for this, Cal.”

  Whitefox laughed. “It’s a bit much, but if I was staring at a half-naked woman, the décor wouldn’t really matter. I couldn’t tell you what color our bedroom is at home.”

  “It’s blue.” Elizabeth looked at him like he was crazy.

  Callen shrugged. “If you say so, beautiful. I don’t hang out in our room to check out the furniture.”

  She snickered and then went serious as they found their agent and tracker sitting at a table with a buxomly blonde stripper. She was lecherously staring at Julian, and if it was pissing Tori off, the woman gave no reaction. Then again, Tori generally had the blank look on her face.

  “I can’t believe that Sarah, Tiffany and Lisa are all dead,” said the blonde in a really childlike voice. Suddenly she began sniffling.

  Callen grabbed a box of tissues that was on another table and held it out to her.

  “Oh, thank you,” she said, looking up at the very large man. It was like hot man day at work. Automatically, she began contemplating a way to convert them to clientele.

  “You’re welcome,” he replied, taking a seat across from Elizabeth and beside the woman.

  “These are my bosses,” stated Tori. “Please tell them what you told me,” she prodded. The woman was full of fake tear bullshit. Not one single one that fell had any sympathy at all. The woman had a cold calculating look in her eyes. She was probably more than happy there was less competition.

  “The girls were really great! All three were friendly and super sweet too. I can’t believe someone killed them.”

  Elizabeth had little patience for stupidity. “What’s your name?” she asked, turning on her tablet.

  “Lulu.”

  Both women looked over at her. “Is that your performance name,” inquired Elizabeth, “or your birth name?”

  “It’s both,” she answered, checking out the man sitting beside her. His brown hair was pulled back, and the strictness of it accentuated the sharp Native features. He had sexy written all over him.

  “Okay then, Lulu. Give me the approximate time you saw the victim yesterday.” Elizabeth waited for the woman to think.

  “Lisa was here until about eight. She went out for a smoke, and then never came back. We didn’t think anything of it. Lisa was a college student, and trying to make enough money to pay for the next semester.”

  Elizabeth made note of it.

  Tori jumped in. “Tell me about Sarah Royce.”

  Lulu contemplated her answer. “She was one of our oldest dancers. Sarah mostly worked the day shift. Once you get to be about thirty five, you lose your stripper potential. Old isn’t what men want when they come in here. That’s over the hill.”

  Callen winked at Elizabeth. That was a very wrong assessment. Even after childbirth, Elizabeth could pull it off easily. His whole body tensed at the visual.

  She nearly laughed. “Okay, so she was past her prime at thirty six. What else?”

  “I don’t know what else to tell you. We’re really not a social club. We come in, compete for men’s attention and make money.” At ‘men’s attention’, Lulu dropped her hand on Callen’s thigh.

  Elizabeth could have laughed at the looks on all of their faces. It was like they expected an explosion from her. She was far from worried when it came down to the stripper hitting on her man.

  Callen removed her hand and placed it back on the table, giving it a little pat in admonishment. Being pawed at may be acceptable in her world, but in Callen’s it wasn’t. He liked his personal space. If someone was going to get in it, there needed to be an invite.

  “So it’s pretty cut throat in the world of stripping?” Elizabeth questioned.

  “Yeah it is! This is the hardest job out there.”

  Tori snickered and covered it with a cough. This woman was seriously delusional if she believed walking around in what amounted to a bikini and swinging around a pole constituted hard work. She’d been shot at and almost killed in the Middle East. Both she and Elizabeth shared a look and eye roll.

  Obviously Lulu caught the twin looks from the women. “I’m serious. I’ve had to dance with fractured toes, and broken bones in my feet. You have no idea what it’s like being a dancer. You have it easy.”

  Tori shrugged. “I did two tours of duty in the Middle East where people were trying to kill me daily. IEDs, blown up soldiers and wearing forty pounds of gear in one hundred plus temperatures.”

  Elizabeth added. “I’ve been shot twice, abducted and almost blown up personally. I think that’s a pretty crap-tastic day too. We’re going to have to agree to disagree on this one, Lulu.”

  The stripper glanced back and forth between Callen and Julian for support. It boggled her mind how both of them were sitting there and not once did either check out her very ample cleavage sticking out of her outfit. In fact, when they weren’t looking at her in the face, they were staring at the women they came in with.

  “Whatever. Are you done questioning me?” she angrily asked, standing in her platform stilettos.

  “For now, stay available,” stated Elizabeth.

  They all watched her walk away.

  “Okay, tell me what we know,” said Elizabeth, preparing to update it in
her tablet.

  Tori leaned forward to keep her voice low. “All the girls pretty much have the same exact story. The girl went out, and that was it. The other ones, they didn’t have specifics. Most said it was too long ago to recall.”

  “It was less than three weeks for the first killing.”

  Tori snickered. “I hear you, but obviously recall doesn’t matter in this line of work.”

  “I’m betting men aren’t paying her to see her recall,” added Whitefox, grinning.

  “You think?” retorted Julian.

  “Yeah, it may have something to do with her…” He motioned at his own chest region and took an elbow from both women at the same time.

  Julian laughed.

  “Tread lightly here, ace. I can be vicious. You sleep next to me, and I’ll shave you bald.” Elizabeth tried not to laugh at the look on his face.

  He knew that was the truth. Then he changed the subject. “We ran into a few issues at the last club we hit.” Whitefox broke it all down for them, letting them in on Marla and her bouncer.

  “Wow, that explains the Kevlar,” stated Littlemoon, as he hit Callen in the chest with the back of his hand. “I didn’t think you started working out,” he said laughing.

  The look on his face said it all. “Hey, I work out plenty! Every damn day she makes me run and Ethan makes me lift weights. I can’t get a break!”

  Elizabeth sighed. “Boys let’s focus on the situation at hand, not Callen’s workout schedule.”

  Tori picked back up. “The bartender’s name is Chase Reynolds. He confirmed all the information we picked up from the strippers. Competition is steep, but they didn’t have any issues. No unruly customers and no co-worker drama.”

  “Great. Well, we did get the club; I guess we need to work for the rest.”

  Julian stood. “Can Tori get a ride back with you two? I have something I need to handle before tonight,” he said, waiting for their reply.

  “Yes she can,” stated Elizabeth. “We’re almost done here. Besides, she can brief me on the other two clubs you both checked out.”

  Julian nodded, and then figured screw it. He leaned down and kissed her on the lips before walking away.