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

by Morgan Kelley

  She smiled. “We’d love that. I’m sorry she couldn’t make it.”

  She was too.

  “I wish Gia could have come with you to see the place,” she offered.

  “Yeah, she’s tied up with someone,” she stated, pulling her brown hair up in a bun. “She’ll regret not being able to be here. I’m pretty sure she’ll be dropping in though to check on you.”

  Maeve smiled. “Any time.”

  “I’m shocked by all the security, Maeve! It’s crazy here. What are there, six men?” she asked.

  Maeve dunked a cookie into her tea. “There’s four now, but once Ethan and Elizabeth arrive today, it’ll be five or six. I wish they’d blend in more. I feel like a prisoner.”

  “Awww, honey,” she said, patting her hand. “You could sneak out and come with me. I’ll hide you out.”

  She laughed. “I wish.”

  “Well, anyway, this is such a big house. It must have a million bedrooms for all these kids,” she offered, glancing over to where the kids were playing near Wyler.

  “No, it’s the normal home, I guess. Our house in DC is triple the size. We only have five bedrooms here. We’re packed in like sardines.”

  She laughed and popped a cookie into her mouth. Then she saw the one kid moving toward her.

  “Can I share our cookies?” she asked.

  “Absolutely. That’s Christopher Anthony. He loves cookies.”

  She reached down and handed him one. He went into Maeve’s lap.

  “Who does he belong to? This is so confusing,” she admitted.

  “He’s Callen and Elizabeth’s son, and the last baby.”

  “Okay, I got it,” she said as Christopher Anthony crawled out of her lap.

  Maeve had an idea.

  “I can make it easier. Would you like to meet my grandchildren?” she asked.

  Vera smiled. “I would. I love children. I don’t have any myself, but one day, who knows.”

  They headed toward the kids.

  Vera crouched down by one of them. “Who are you, sweetness?” she asked.

  “That adorable sweetheart is Charlie. That’s Elizabeth and Ethan’s last child.”

  Vera waved at her.

  Charlie waved back.

  She laughed. “Oh my. She looks like her momma, doesn’t she?”

  Maeve agreed.

  “Can I hold her?” she asked.

  Maeve rubbed her belly. “Sure!”

  Vera picked up the child and tickled her. “Oh, she is beautiful. All that pale skin and long Native hair. Her eyes are stunning. It’s like looking into your daughter-in-law’s eyes. She’s going to be drop dead gorgeous. I just want to steal her and take her home.”

  Maeve laughed. “Her momma would not like that at all. Besides, she is her mother’s child. She’s smart like her.”

  Cat came down the stairs, looking around. She’d been playing in her room. “Who are you?” she asked the lady.

  “I met you at the park. I’m Vera.”

  Cat stared at her.

  “Charlie, want to go with me? We can play dollies in our room.”

  Charlie immediately wanted to get down.

  Vera placed her on the ground.

  “That’s Cat. She’s the mother hen of the group,” Maeve offered. “She’s the little police officer of them all.”

  “They are all so precious. Aren’t kids so wonderful? We have them, and then they become our whole heart. I hope I get to experience that. I am in love with Charlie.”

  Maeve, now that she was becoming a mother, got it.

  Vera’s phone chimed.

  She pulled it out and read the message.

  “Oh, I have to go! Thank you so much for allowing me to have tea with you. I hope you have your baby here in Salem. I can’t wait to hold him.”

  She ran her hands over the giant bump.

  “Me either. I’m dying to give him kisses.”

  The woman smiled sweetly.

  “Come see me again,” Maeve offered.

  Vera gave her two kisses.

  One on each cheek.

  “I’ll be back before you know it.”

  Maeve waited while her friend left, and then she began picking up their teacups.

  Wyler headed over as Vera was escorted out.

  “Feel better?” he asked, giving her a hug and kiss. “You look a million times better.”

  She was better.

  “Thank you for that suggestion. I had fun. You’re a good man, Wyler Blackhawk. You’re going to make a damn fine father. I can tell.”

  He was glad his wife thought so. He had so much to make up for in his life.

  This being the big thing.

  “And you’ll be a great mother. We have this,” he offered.

  Cat wandered over and tugged on his plaid shirt.

  “Yes, Kitty Cat?”

  “Who was she?” she asked.

  “That was one of Grandma’s friends, why?” he asked.

  Cat scrunched up her nose. “No, Grandpa, she’s not.”

  “Why do you say that?” he asked, getting down to her level to look in her green cat eyes.

  “Because, Grandpa, the old man said she was bad and to get away from her.”

  He didn’t understand. He was the oldest man in the house. Who was she talking about?

  He’d said no such thing.

  “What, Kitty Cat? What are you talking about? Where was this old man?”

  “I was in my room, and this man was there.”

  He got alarmed. “What?”

  She took his hand and led him to the mantle. “Pick me up, Grandpa.”

  He did.

  She pointed at the photograph. “It was him.”

  Wyler looked between her and the man. Then back again. “Are you sure that’s who you saw?”

  She nodded.

  His heart was thundering a million miles a second. This was bad.

  Really bad.

  “You go play with the kids. I want you to take them upstairs. Don’t destroy the place.”

  He put his granddaughter down, and went racing for the door. Outside, he saw Liam, who had escorted Vera from their home.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, going for his gun. The man looked frantic.

  “Where did she go?” he asked.

  “Who?”

  “Vera.”

  “She left in her car.”

  “What was she driving?” Wyler asked.

  “A blue Volkswagen, why?”

  “I need to talk to Elizabeth. NOW!”

  Wyler ran inside and made the call.

  He was scared shitless.

  Worse, if Kat was right, they’d really screwed up.

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

  Chris Santana’s

  Home

  He didn’t understand any of this.

  Why was his Keres hurting him? She was burning his feet, cutting off his fingers, and she’d taken one of his eyes.

  He was in so much pain.

  Chris wanted to die.

  With each scream, he begged for his life, for mercy, and for the blonde to stop. When she ripped open his pants, yanked him from his drawers, and made a knife appear, he screamed even more.

  “So, you’re Elizabeth’s friend?” she asked. “Do you know the security codes to her home?” she asked.

  He screamed as she twisted his dick.

  “I guess not. Well, in that case, I guess it’s time to have a protein packed snack.”

  And then she lopped off his dick, spraying blood all over.

  Chris screamed.

  And screamed.

  And screamed.

  Then finally, mercifully, he let go and went into the dark.

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

  They were just getting into the rental ride as the call came in. As soon as Elizabeth answered it, she was ready to throw up.

  Her father-in-law was panicked.

  That freaked her out.


  “Wyler, slow down,” she said, as she put it on speaker. “I can’t understand you.”

  “Where are you?”

  “On our way into Salem. Why?”

  “You need to get home! Now!” he barked into the phone. This was an emergency.

  “Dad, what’s wrong?” Ethan asked.

  “Something bad has happened,” he said, “I think we gave a killer access to the house.”

  That was all they had to hear.

  Callen Whitefox floored it.

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

  Washington DC

  Doctor Michaels’s

  Home

  When Dakota and Sarah got there, there was no one around. They knocked on the door, and no one answered. Clearly, the woman lived alone.

  They kind of expected some hired help. From the look of the grand old house, Doctor Michaels obviously could afford it.

  “No hired help?” Sarah asked.

  “I was just thinking that.”

  And he was.

  Great minds…

  “She didn’t clean this place,” Sarah stated. “There’s no way a busy FBI anthropologist was coming home to dust knickknacks.”

  He agreed.

  “Let’s look around,” he stated, following her around the side of the building. When they arrived in the backyard, there was a large fence surrounding the property.

  “Well, that’s not easy to climb, so that might be part of the issue,” she said, referring to why a killer wouldn’t use this place as the crime scene.

  It was hard to navigate.

  There was a voice behind the one part of the fence. “If you don’t leave, I’m calling the cops!”

  They glanced toward where the sound had come from.

  “I have a gun! I’ll shoot!”

  They both went for their sidearms just in case.

  Sarah took this one.

  “We are cops, ma’am. I’m going to hold my badge over the fence so you can see it. Don’t shoot me.”

  “Slowly.”

  Sarah climbed up on a bench to see over the fence. There was a little old lady holding a hose nozzle.

  They were safe.

  “See?” she said, showing the woman her badge.

  Immediately, she relaxed. “I’m sorry, but last month, Rachael had a break in. I really thought it was happening again.”

  That made Sarah curious.

  Dakota got up on the bench, too, his badge also out to calm the woman. When he saw the hose, he smiled.

  “Oh, did she?”

  “Yes, she did. Who is that handsome devil?” she asked, fluffing her gray hair.

  “I’m US Marshal Dakota Rakin, miss.”

  She blushed. “You sweet talker. I’m more a ma’am, but I’ll take it.”

  “I’ll talk some more if you answer our questions,” he crooned. This was exactly what Elizabeth had wanted.

  Schmoozing.

  She winked at him. “Son, I’m a cougar. Run fast,” she teased.

  Sarah watched the interplay.

  Dakota was smiling at the woman, and he was genuinely being a decent guy.

  Yeah, that’s why she fell for him.

  “We’re investigating Rachael’s death.”

  The woman looked up. “What?”

  “She was killed last night, Miss…”

  “Devroy. You have to be kidding me. How did she die?” she asked.

  She crossed herself.

  He wasn’t going into specifics. “We’re not sure of the details. We’re just the field people. We’re chasing answers.”

  She walked toward the gate. “Come on over. I’ll make you coffee. We can talk.”

  They headed her way.

  Once through the gate, inside the sunporch, and in her house, she offered them chairs at her island.

  “I can’t believe she’s gone. That’s horrible. I’ve lived next to Rachael for years.”

  “You said she was robbed?” Sarah asked, pulling out her tablet to do some searches.

  “Yes, she was the only one on the block. She was away with work. She’s a Fed.”

  “Yes, we know,” he offered. “Was anything taken?” he asked.

  “Nothing. The alarms went off, the cops went in, and they didn’t find anyone lurking around. We’re a really safe neighborhood. We look out for each other.”

  That might be why they didn’t bring the doctor here to kill. It was too safe. The alarms going off might be a botched attempt to see how good her security was.

  They failed.

  “How do you know there was a robbery then?”

  “Right as the alarm went off, there was the squeal of tires. Plus, there was a broken window.”

  “Get the report,” he said to Sarah.

  “Did anyone work for her?” Dakota asked. “Like a maid, chef, cat sitter?”

  “Oh, yes. That would be Fadila.”

  “Does Fadila have a last name?” he asked, as she handed them each cups of coffee.

  “Shakih. She wasn’t white. I guess you’d call her mixed? Is that the proper term?”

  He wasn’t correcting her. This woman might have seen something that could help. “Sure thing, ma’am.”

  “If I show you a picture, will you be able to identify her?” he asked.

  “I might. I didn’t see her often. She only came later in the week and weekends. She was private, and kept to herself. Honestly, she wasn’t all that friendly, but then again, Rachael was like that. She kept to herself and loved her bones.”

  Dakota pulled up the sketch that Agent Blue Garrick had drawn from Ethan and Callen’s description.

  “Is this her?”

  She studied the drawing. “Well, she had a dark mole on her cheek, but yes, that’s her.”

  Bingo!

  She’d positively identified Tammy Beard, aka Bonnie’s bitch buddy.

  They were one step closer.

  “When did you see her last?”

  “About a week ago. She brought me over that flowerpot. Rachael picked it up for me, and Fadila delivered it.”

  “Miss Devroy, I need to take that with me. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Only if you bring it back, handsome. Maybe we can have dinner? You can call me Lily, and I’ll call out your name.”

  Dakota flushed.

  He was really uncomfortable.

  Once she threw out cougar, he knew she hadn’t been kidding.

  “Well?” the older woman asked.

  Sarah stepped in to save her partner. She leaned over and kissed him softly on the lips.

  He took her hand in his in relief.

  “Actually, Miss Devroy, he’s my boyfriend. He’s taken, but we might know some cops right up your alley.”

  She laughed.

  Dakota wanted to kiss Sarah again, and not only because she’d acted as big cat repellant.

  “All the good ones are taken.”

  ‘Thank you,’ he mouthed.

  She nodded and went back to her searches.

  That had set the mood. Dakota chugged his coffee, so they could get out of there. It was time, and they needed to do some research as they caught a flight.

  “Thank you, ma’am,” he offered.

  “It was no problem. Send those cops over. I can handle them in twos and threes.”

  Dakota practically pulled Sarah out of the yard.

  She was amused.

  Once inside their ride, he glanced over. Something about her casually calling him boyfriend irritated him.

  Maybe it was because she didn’t mean it.

  Maybe it was because he was beginning to warm up to the idea. Instead of getting bitchy, he bit his tongue.

  “I just ran Fadila Shakih.”

  “And?” he asked.

  “She doesn’t exist.”

  He leaned back. “Not even in the IRS?”

  Sarah shook her head. “Nope.”

  “Shit.”

  “Yeah, Doctor Michaels must have been paying
her under the table.”

  “Notice she worked opposite days that Tammy Beard did with the nun?”

  She did.

  “This plan had to take a year to implement. There are so many levels of it,” Sarah admitted. “Bonnie really wanted to make sure she upped her game.”

  He was aware.

  “We might not have given her enough credit,” Sarah admitted. “With each layer that we pull back, we keep hitting that identity wall.”

  He got it.

  “Until we find out who Lizzie really is, we’re stuck.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  What were they going to do?

  “Let’s get to the airport. I want to catch up to the Blackhawks. Bonnie is in Salem. That’s where I need to be.”

  She got it.

  This case was the love of his life.

  And he was going after her.

  ChaPTer fifteen

  Salem

  Formerly Fort LaRue

  T hey pulled into the driveway like bats rushing out of Hell. The Devil himself could have been chasing them, and they wouldn’t have driven faster. Once they got there, the team was milling around, and everyone looked discombobulated.

  What the bloody hell?

  Getting out of their ride, Elizabeth didn’t slow down. She raced past Liam and his men.

  She had to get to her kids.

  Inside, she found them sitting in a circle, all holding hands while Wyler tried to keep them calm.

  One of the things that always astounded her was that children could pick up any mood just by being around you. Christopher Anthony was crying, Bethe and Charlie were full of tears, and the boys looked rattled.

  This was bad.

  “Dad!” Elizabeth said, rushing into the room to check on her children.

  At the sound of her voice, the kids all scattered, running at her, and the three men behind her. They began catching them all in their arms, giving them hugs and kisses.

  Chris had Bethe in his arms as he tried to keep her from crying.

  “What happened?” Ethan asked, as he held both CJ and EJ. They were clinging to him, and that was odd. Their sons were rough and tumble.