Dismissing everyone back to FBI West and packing up all the equipment didn’t take much time. Even under the ongoing scrutiny of the tribe that stayed to watch over them, like they were thieves stealing precious artifacts. The glares said it all to the outsiders.
“Meet us at the office, tomorrow,” said Blackhawk, absently. He had too much on his mind to stay focused, and he was done with the entire day.
Callen Whitefox nodded. He could see his brother was distracted and the assumption was that granddad had given him the riot act. “What time do you want me there?”
Elizabeth noticed her husband was no longer paying attention. “Nine a.m. is good, Callen. We’ll meet you in the lobby and head down to the lab together.”
“I’ll be there. Thanks for coming today and making this as easy as possible,” he added. There was no doubt that he was grateful that his brother and sister-in-law were handling it respectfully.
“We’ll see you tomorrow,” she nodded, taking the keys from her husband. She wasn’t letting him drive when he was completely unfocused. She didn’t want to die on the way home when the torrential rain began.
Inside her husband’s mustang she drove out of the reservation, giving him some time to remain quiet. As they approached the main road, leading them out of the town and back to their neighborhood, she couldn’t help but be worried. It wasn’t like him to be this introverted when thinking about an assignment. Usually he would talk it out with her unless she was the issue plaguing him. Something his grandfather had tossed out at him in private was playing with his mind and emotions. There were storms brewing in Ethan Blackhawk’s eyes.
“Want to talk about it?” she asked finally, putting on the wipers, as the first spots of rain began to fall.
“I want you to stay in the office and forget about this assignment,” he said it with so much emotion in his voice. It was ready to break from him and flood them both in the car.
“I can’t do that, Ethan and you know it.”
“Yes, you can. You just won’t do it! We have the luxury as directors to back out of an assignment. I can cover it with my brother. Please stay in-house.”
Elizabeth slowed down for a stop light and looked over at her husband, she wanted to be furious that he was telling her what to do, and that he was forgetting that she was his equal partner. She just couldn’t muster the anger. It wasn’t often that he looked this lost and worried, and she opted to take the higher marriage road and cut him a break.
“I will if you will. We both walk away together, or neither of us does.”
He looked over; his eyes looked very dark in the confines of the car. “I have to finish this.” Blackhawk didn’t know why he felt such a strong compulsion, but he had to finish this, if anything for his grandfather. It was his penance for walking away.
“Then I guess we have our answer,” she stated nonchalantly, as she drove them both home. As much as she was willing to give him a break, she wasn’t leaving him alone on an assignment while she hid in fear.
Elizabeth parked in their driveway as her husband exited the car without a word to her. Usually he would wait for her, and her heart clenched at the mere thought that this had come between them, dividing them. Hurt washed through her as she put his car in reverse and headed back out.
A little feeling of disappointment hit her as he had forgotten his grandfather’s prediction of their pregnancy. All she wanted was him to focus and be excited with her. Elizabeth again forced herself to just let it go, because he had a lot on his mind and shoulders. Right now she would focus on the big question plaguing her. Was his grandfather right? She needed to pick up a pregnancy test to see if he’d been correct. In her mind she began calculating, trying to figure out if it was possible. Anything was at this point as neither had been careful. It was a good thing they both wanted children. Pulling into the drugstore, she hoped whatever the outcome, it would bring them back together. She needed a miracle, and she wasn’t afraid to pray for one at this point.
Ethan Blackhawk dialed his boss the minute he entered their home, uncaring if his wife was behind him listening. He was pissed and angry that they had drawn this assignment, and he wanted to tear someone a new one. As it rang, he waited and rationalized what would happen if he exploded on the phone at Gabe.
“Rothschild.”
“It’s Ethan.” Blackhawk hoped his voice didn’t sound as angry as he felt. This was his boss and now his family, so he tried to dial it back and get some control.
“How’s it going, Cowboy,” he said, distractedly.
“Well, let me recap for you. We have a killer using the bones of unborn children on the reservation I once called home. We also have my half-brother who betrayed me, playing the role of chief of police. Let’s not forget my grandfather is the head of council and a shaman who hands out superstitions from dreams. The recent one is my wife is in danger and to keep her close. Did you hand pick this one to make me go completely and totally over the edge? If so congrats, Gabe, I’m over the edge. You win!”
“Yes, I can see that, Cowboy.” Gabriel Rothschild let him vent and get it off his chest, as his friend and part of the family. He wasn’t going to even address how unprofessional his agent was behaving. It was so uncharacteristically like him, he knew he had to let it slide. “Are you waiting for me to say I’m sorry, Ethan?” he paused before continuing, “I am and I wouldn’t have sent you both in had I known, or if I could switch it around.”
“I want her pulled out, and I don’t care what you have to do to make it happen. I never question or ask anything from you, but this time I’m begging. Yank her for my sanity’s sake.”
Gabe almost wanted to laugh. “You think that’s going to go over well and that she’ll actually listen to me? I even suggest pulling her, your ass and mine are in the fryer, Ethan. I may be her boss, but I can’t pull people without a valid reason. I still have to justify everything to the higher ups. You know that and contrary to popular belief, I am accountable to people above me. I can’t make rogue decisions. I have leeway, but there are limitations to even my power. I run Quantico, but I don’t own it.”
“I’m aware she’ll be pissed, but if she’s in danger I won’t risk her. Pull her out and make her stay at FBI West, or call her back to Quantico on some asinine reason, I don’t care. In fact, tell her they lost her requalification paperwork, and she needs to redo it. Please.”
Now he did laugh. “Again, Ethan, I won’t and can’t. You and I both know that your wife has a mind of her own, and if she even thought that we were having this conversation, she’d skin you alive and then come after me, both guns blazing. Where she can only cause me hell, Elizabeth can physically cause you far worse for even making this call. Like divorce, murder, torture…”
He wanted to punch something, and he just let it all out. “I’m scared shitless, Gabe.”
That he understood. He remembered the way he felt when he was going to marry his wife Livy, and she had to finish an assignment out in the field. He was a mess and completely nervous when some lunatic was stalking her. He nearly lost his mind with it all. Sympathy was flowing readily; the man had been forced to watch Elizabeth fight for her life and save them both. Fear he understood, but he could only do so much to cover for his agents.
“I can talk to her, but if I pull Elizabeth, she’s going to be very angry. One husband to another and one friend to another, vent it and get it out, but don’t put this between you both. Your wife is smart, and she’s a damn good agent. How would you feel if she called me, and we were having this conversation about you behind your back?”
“I’d be furious!” Blackhawk hated that his boss even remotely had a point. It occurred to him he just broke a big marriage rule by betraying his wife.
Gabe laughed. “Then update me on the details, and we’ll forget that we even had this little discussion, or you’ll see exactly what the meaning of the saying ‘hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’ means.”
Blackhawk sat at their kitchen isl
and, and broke it down like he had many times before to his boss. He told him about the medicine wheel and what the anthropologist had to say. Finally he wrapped it up with his grandfather and his knowledge on shamanism. When he worked it all out to his boss, he felt a tiny bit better, and he finally felt back in control of something at least.
“What can I do to help you two?”
“Can you find out if there have been any other locations where medicine wheels or human bones with red symbols were used in any ritualistic ceremonies? Open or closed assignments?”
“I can have Quantico run the searches and have the information out to you as soon as possible. Anything else?”
“Promise me this is the last assignment in the field for Elizabeth.”
“I promise it is.” Gabe gave him the words even when he knew that he couldn’t put that in writing, but if it helped Ethan get through it then so be it.
Blackhawk knew that wasn’t something his boss could keep. “Thanks Gabe, for listening and letting me vent and get this all off my chest.”
“No problem, Cowboy. Update me tomorrow or sooner if need be.”
Elizabeth parked beside her Jeep in the driveway and grabbed her bag from the drugstore, stuffing it in her purse. She wanted to go take the test and then talk to her husband. She raced for the house, trying to not get too soaked in the torrential downpour. When she went inside, she could hear him in the kitchen, making dinner. Hopefully, he was a little bit calmer. It had become a tradition of theirs, and she couldn’t help but smile. It was very husband-like, and it warmed her heart as she watched him from the doorway. He had changed, letting his hair free of the tie and was in jeans, t-shirt, and barefoot.
“Hi, Ethan,” she said from the doorway.
“I missed you,” he said, walking to her and holding her to his body. “Want to have dinner with me?” After the call to Gabe, he began to worry that he had ruined their night. It was far and few between that they could spend an evening together not buried in work.
“Absolutely, I do, Cowboy. Can I go change and be back? I’m a little soggy from the rain outside.”
He released her and went back to the kitchen, wanting to ask where she’d been, but maybe she just needed to drive around to keep from having a fight with him. He was in a pretty shitty mood not too long ago, and he wouldn’t blame her. Maybe they’d have a nice dinner, relax and talk. If there was a chance to talk her out of being in the field he’d try. Except this time he’d approach it a little more calmly and rationally.
Elizabeth slipped out of her wet clothes, and took off her badge and gun, placing it in her bed stand until the next day. Changing into shorts and a t-shirt, she dropped the pregnancy test on her bed and stared at it. Once she took it, everything was going to change. Somewhere, deep down inside of her, she wasn’t really sure that she could be a good mom. It had been so long since she had a mother of her own. Could she do it?
The few memories she had of her own mother were great ones. Mom had made her cookies, taken her shopping, made cakes with her and even had driven her to soccer games. The car accident that stole her still gave Elizabeth horrible guilt. If she didn’t want to play, forcing her mother sign her up, maybe she wouldn’t have grown up motherless.
Would she be strong enough to be a mom? Caring enough to carry the burden of motherhood? So many things went through her mind as she looked down at the box on her bed. There was no doubt, that her husband would be a great father, but she had that little fear deep down in herself that she would be a failure. Few things fazed her, but there was the knowledge that his grandfather had dreamed about her being pregnant, and she didn’t even know herself. It just gave her goose bumps.
Sighing, she ripped the box open and read the instructions. Time would tell and fate already had this one in the books. All she could do was hold on for the ride.
Blackhawk poured both of them a glass of wine and began making dinner. He enjoyed the way it helped him relax and focus on something other than just the FBI. It connected him to his wife and to a life outside of work. Before her there was only his professional life and now he had both, and he was willing to hold onto them fervently. Previously he would come home from work, bring out his paperwork and assessments and continue to profile, making sure nothing was forgotten or missed. Now he had something worth coming home to each night, and there was no way that he could ever go back. He could feel her approach and planned on enjoying the time they spent making dinner together. Well he did the cooking, and she just kept him company.
“Feel better, Ethan?” she inquired, taking a seat on one of the stools, so she could watch him work. There was something innately sexy about a man barefoot and cooking dinner for a woman in the kitchen. Now if she could just figure out a way to get him to do it shirtless, her life would be perfect.
“Yeah, I think I’m just on an emotional overload. Today was a tough day,” he admitted, as he handed her a glass of wine and returned to chopping the veggies for the stir-fry. “I think we need to talk, calmly and without fighting.”
“Okay, Cowboy,” she said, leaning on the counter. “You seem to be the one all tied up in knots over this, so shoot. You go first and I’ll listen.”
“I know you don’t believe in the craziness my grandfather spouts and for the record I’m not too fond of it either. I just have this feeling that us on this assignment is a very bad idea.”
Elizabeth nodded and waited for him to continue.
“I’m not asking you to not work it, because I know that would get my ass kicked or divorced, but I need to believe your safe in order to be able to focus on what’s ahead of us.”
She laughed, grabbing a raw carrot. “I won’t divorce you Ethan, but two things will get your ass kicked. One is ordering me around and the other would be calling Gabe and trying to have him order me around.” Elizabeth watched his eyes, as she bit into the carrot. Just what she figured, he’d already made the call while he’d been home alone.
Blackhawk looked guilty and didn’t even try to hide it.
“I see, so basically you tried to get me pulled already, huh?”
“Yeah, I did.”
Well at least he didn’t lie to her. Elizabeth had two options. A knockdown, drag out fight, or the option where she would have done the same thing and couldn’t fault him for it. “Do you believe that you can keep me safe, Ethan?”
The muscle in his cheek twitched at her question. There was no way he’d put money on it, but he hoped he could pull it off. As a man and as her husband, he would like to believe he was able to protect his own wife or stand in front of her protectively.
“Because if you think about it, who am I with most of the day? You, and I happen to believe the safest place to be is with my husband. But what I don’t get, Ethan is why you're all freaked out all the sudden. I get the whole, ‘last run in with the serial killer’ thing. I think I’ve been pretty patient with your hovering, but in two hours you went from cautious to full lockdown. What gives? I think we’ve been through a lot together, and I deserve an answer.”
He sighed and decided to spill it. “My grandfather told me to keep you safe, because you were in danger.”
Elizabeth laughed. “No offense, Cowboy, but we’re FBI agents. We have a danger clause in our HR paperwork. I’m always in danger and so are you. When the company you work for has mandatory life insurance and hands out Kevlar at orientation, chances are you have a dangerous job.”
He finished his wine and thought about the point she was making, and it was valid.
“It’s like someone saying if you walk in the middle of the street you can get hit by a car. Of course you can. I’m not diminishing your grandfather and what he believes, but there’s truth in everything in life depending on how you look at it.”
He had to agree and finally some of the tightness lifted from his body. “You’re absolutely right.”
“I’m aware it’s part of the job as being wife,” she couldn’t help but laugh when he smirked.
&nbs
p; “You don’t want your wine?’ he asked, as he poured a second glass. Between the wine and his wife being rational he was feeling calm and loose. It wasn’t like her to not have wine with him, as they cooked dinner.
She pointed at the clock. “In less than one minute the pregnancy test I took will be giving us an answer to the big question, and then I’ll answer that accordingly.”
With all the other bullshit he forgot the most important thing that surfaced today. “Is that where you went? You were out buying a pregnancy test?” Part of him was angry at himself that he had let her go alone, and it wasn’t even a priority to him. Damn prophetic dreams!
“Yes Ethan, it’s about ready now. Want me to do it alone, or are you going to join me?” she stood, hoping he’d join her. Elizabeth was scared shitless, and didn’t want to make him worry with her irrational fears. Already he was carrying enough stress on his shoulders.
Blackhawk turned off the stove and took her hand. “We’ll do it together.” Something in him was clenched super tight, as he was about to find the answer to one of the most important things in his life. Before her he never wanted a wife or kids, and now he had picked out their house with the intent of filling it with children. All the bedrooms and the fenced in yard, and not to mention the hours of research he did on local schools. It all was about this moment, and if they were starting that journey together tonight.
“I’ll get the test,” she said, letting his hand go, walking into the bathroom. She could feel her chest clench and tighten. This was a huge moment for her. She remembered the conversation she had with him right before he proposed. He wanted a brood, and this could be the start of it for both of them.
Sacred Burial Grounds (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 2)) Page 10