“Well, you could have told me.”
“You took care of something for me, and I did the same. He was put at Gitmo, he was given options to speak his mind, and then we made the world think he’d betrayed his fellow gangsters. Someone then ‘blew him up’ and he rested in peace—here in DC as a guest of the US Marshals. It was a good plan.”
Really?
Whether he was protecting her or not, that didn’t matter. This was going to Hell in a handbasket.
The FBI was going to be wearing this shit fest, and she was going to be blamed.
Why?
She was high profile.
By saving her, he implicated her.
He negated her badge.
Well, holy fuck.
That pissed her the hell off.
It still led them to one big, fat problem. It was no longer top-secret. If only a few people knew, then how the hell did it leak back to Carl?
Yeah, huge mess.
“Only, someone knows he’s not dead. How did that leak?” she asked. “How did they find out?” she asked, holding up the note.
He didn’t know.
That was why he’d opted to come clean. Gabe hoped it wasn’t another leak like with Oracle. He couldn’t handle more betrayal in his ranks.
This was a big, volatile mess.
“We don’t know how this person knew. They shouldn’t have a clue. Carl Fitzpatrick has been out of circulation for quite a few years. He went in after you had that first case in Boston.”
Ethan showed Gabe the detectives note from the crime scene.
“How did Carl kill his victims?” he asked.
Gabe glanced up.
His face said it all.
“He would take a knife and shove it through the space between the base of the skull and the spinal cord. It was fast, had very little blood, and it was effective. He was stabbing people in the back. That was how he rolled.”
Ethan had bad news for him.
Elizabeth wasn’t safe, and neither was anyone who had worked any of those cases.
That meant Chris too.
“When did Carl ‘The Knife’ get out of jail?” Callen asked.
Elizabeth knew this one.
“It would be right around when Joey got out a couple of months ago. He said, as he had Ivan and Blue, that they were going after O’Banion. It looks like he’s leaving a body count until he gets to him. I don’t doubt that he wants this to get back to O’Banion that he’s gunning for him.”
Gabe rubbed his temples.
Yeah, this was bad.
“Shit! This is a mess,” muttered Gabe.
“It’s going to be Carl,” she stated. “With that previous comment from Joey—before I put a bullet in his head, the ‘C’ that was carved into his victim’s body, and that way of killing them…”
He knew she was right.
The mob mess was back, and it was heading their way. DC now had one hell of a problem to handle.
Well, not DC.
Elizabeth.
“It’s going to be his henchman. He was sent up the river and O’Banion didn’t save him. He’s going to be pissed. His son was killed in prison, and he didn’t save him either. Carl is going to be pissed and he’s had years to stew in his festering, criminal juices,” Elizabeth stated.
Oh, he was aware.
“Well, this is a bad situation,” Callen admitted. “What the hell do we do with this? We can’t let the media get it, or the shit will hit the fan.”
Gabe was aware.
“Elizabeth, I’ll work on getting the case pulled from the locals. I’ll see what I can do to get the victim’s body to you, and you’re going to have to handle this.”
“And O’Banion?” she asked.
There was no doubt why she wanted to know. Elizabeth wanted him to pay for all of his crimes.
It was time.
“We’re going to have to protect him from Carl. We have no choice. He is being protected by the US government.”
Ethan nearly shit a brick.
What the hell?
“I just read what he wanted to do to my wife, and you want me to stand here and say we’re going to protect him? Are you out of your mind? Let’s just put a bullet in his brain.”
“Ethan!” she said. “You know we can’t do that. Two wrongs make two wrongs, not a right.”
He stared at her.
This was his wife.
No one was ‘getting their hands on her’ or hurting her. Michael O’Banion could kiss his ass. It wasn’t happening. For her, he’d cross that line.
For his wife…
Yeah, willingly.
Elizabeth tried to reason with him.
“He knows the names of those victims. We can dig them up, but it can take years to give them an identity,” Elizabeth stated.
Callen was reading the file.
He closed it and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“I’ll put the bullet in his brain.”
“Callen!”
“Elizabeth, he put a hit out on you to get you abducted and then brought to him. What do you think he’d want to do then? Have a tea party?”
“I know what he wanted. He told me to my face, and then I put a bullet in Joey and Carl to get him to see that I’m not easy to take out.”
While that helped calm them down, it changed nothing. Gabe wanted them to protect a man who had tried to hurt their wife.
That was all kinds of ironic, with a side of ‘no fucking way’.
“I think I proved that I’m not going down, so I’ll be perfectly fine. PLUS, you have Ivan all over my ass. He’s back to work on Sunday and I trust him to do his job. The man is myopically focused on riding my ass.”
Ethan laughed. “He’s back to work now. Rory is done doing double duty. He’s threatening to quit. Once he hears he has to protect you against an ex-mob man…not going to happen.”
Could she blame him?
It was time to pull a Callen and lighten the mood.
“I’ll have you know that I’ve been very well behaved. I’ve been in the office for the last three weeks. Rory has been following me to the ladies’ room. He is worse than Ivan. What could happen in there? What? That I’ll fall in?”
“Well, he’s coming back to work ASAP.”
She laughed.
“He’ll love that.”
Gabe knew he needed them.
“Please handle this,” he stated. “If I could go out in the field, I’d do it. I can’t. That will draw all kinds of attention.”
They knew he was right.
“You need to find the person after O’Banion. We can’t let this blow-up. He’s dead. We faked his death. He’ll sing like a fucking canary and that will bury the FBI.”
“Well, maybe you should have thought about that,” Callen stated.
“I was protecting her.”
He got that, but still…
Look at the mess.
She wanted to talk to O’Banion. She wanted to interrogate him to see what he’d do. The man wasn’t an idiot. He was a wildcard, and she knew she could break him.
She only needed time.
“Can you get him brought in for me?”
He looked at his watch.
“Yes, I can. I’m going to make sure he’s secure, and then I’ll set something up.”
That worked for her.
For now, at least she had the first part of this under control. She had O’Banion.
It was about to begin.
But first…
“Gabe, where’s that grave?”
He scribbled the location down on a piece of paper for their eyes only.
“Send your team to start removing the bodies. I’ll get O’Banion into our hands. I’ll get him situated for a meeting, and then you have your interrogation tomorrow. I need to get the Marshals to move him. We’ll keep an eye on him. He’s tricky.”
Oh, she was aware.
The man was a snake, and now he was a snake being hunted by a man he tau
ght to be a criminal.
That was funny.
Amusing.
Ironic.
“I can’t believe we’re going to save the life of a mob man who deserves to be gutted in the streets,” Callen stated. “What the hell has our job come to?”
They were all aware.
No one saw this coming.
No one.
“Get the local police to stop the autopsy. I want the body sent here. I’ll have Chris…”
That’s when Ethan remembered what had happened earlier. He recalled the conversation.
Shit!
Ethan stopped her with his comment alone.
“Oh, Jesus!”
That had hers and everyone else’s attention. It was out of the blue.
“What?” she asked.
“I was talking to Chris before the detectives arrived. I was handling his issue.”
She looked confused.
What the hell kind of issue was Chris having?
“What are you talking about?” she asked. “Has something happened? Is he okay?”
This was where he’d wanted to do this privately because he knew his wife. She was NOT going to handle this well. This was going to hurt her.
He handed her the lab letter that Chris had received to notify him of his situation.
Elizabeth read it.
Her hands shook.
“Oh, Jesus!”
When she looked up her eyes were filled with unshed tears. “Oh my God! Poor Christopher. Where is he?” she asked, ready to get to him.
Elizabeth wanted to be there for him.
“Why didn’t he tell me?” she asked. “Why didn’t he come to me first?”
Ethan hated to do this to her right before she took on a new case, but he handed her the second paper.
“Baby, he quit. Chris is giving up his job and is leaving the FBI. He walked out.”
That stole her breath.
It was a sucker punch to the solar plexus. It nearly took her to her knees.
“WHAT?”
Gabe went there.
“I already got a copy of the lab work this morning. I was going to handle the situation with him after we dealt with this mess.”
She was confused.
Everything was a jumbled mess. All she could hear was Gabe talking and none of it was making any sense.
“What’s to handle?” she asked. Elizabeth was confused. They didn’t have to ‘handle’ anything. They needed to be there for him. They needed to hold him up.
Chris was theirs.
Gabe hated to break it to her, but he didn’t have a whole hell of a lot of options.
“Elizabeth, he’s sick. The FBI...”
She stopped him with holding up her hand and a look that could turn the fires of Hell into icicles.
“NO.”
Clearly, Gabe didn’t realize this was bad territory. Callen and Ethan moved closer to their spouse, and they had her back.
Gabe didn’t give up.
“He’s now HIV positive. He works in a situation where he is able to make others sick.”
She wasn’t having it.
“WHO? The dead people we get?” Elizabeth asked, getting ready to go full on nuclear over this. There was no fucking way she was allowing this to go down on her watch.
Chris was not leaving the FBI.
NO.
WAY.
“He’s not quitting. I don’t care what you tell me about FBI rules. You just told us that the FBI, under your boss, had a man abducted without evidence, locked him at Gitmo, likely terrorized him, and made his life end! You have no right to tell me that you can’t bend a few rules for a man who has been here almost two decades, served his country, and worked tirelessly to find justice for the dead!”
This was escalating.
Elizabeth was bright red, and they NEVER saw that happen. She was about to blow.
“Elizabeth, he can’t run the morgue simply because if he gets cut…”
“NO.”
Gabe glanced over at Ethan.
“Give me the paper, Elizabeth. I’ll accept his resignation. If he wants to leave…”
Callen and Ethan both saw it coming.
This was where she was going to go shit nuts. It was clearly written on her face, and honestly, they didn’t blame her. They stood with their family.
Chris was theirs.
“Then you can have mine too,” she said, pulling off her badge and gun. “Happy fucking hunting for this killer, Director Rothschild.”
When she dropped his title, the shit got real.
“When O’Banion is gunned down, and his real identity gets out, I won’t be here to watch the blowback. I’m sure the president will LOVE this. You’re going to risk his wonderful tenure and someone’s going to pay—and it won’t be me.”
He stared at her.
Immediately, he stood taller.
“You don’t want to threaten me, Elizabeth. I play hardball with bigger, scarier people than you. We may be family, but in here, this is my fucking castle.”
Oh, the shit was hitting the fan.
Ethan and Callen waited for the meltdown. Normally, neither of these two people would ever go for the jugular against each other. They were family.
Only, Elizabeth knew Gabe didn’t like Chris, and Gabe knew Elizabeth loved him.
It was a line in the sand.
A grudge match.
Only, she wasn’t backing down.
“Is that so, Director? Well, guess what. I quit. You can take your fucking castle, shove it sideways up your ass—if there’s room beside your ego.”
He sputtered.
“You didn’t mind breaking the rules to lock him away, or when I went after ‘The Butcher’ for you, now did you? Oh, but saving a man who worked hard for this agency is farfetched. Well, then goodbye. I’m walking.”
Gabe went red to the roots of his newly growing hair.
“Really? My ego? Well, I have news for you, Mrs. Blackhawk,” he said, knowing that using ‘Mrs.’ drove her insane. “You have an ego issue too!”
It was getting personal.
It was time for backup.
Callen took off his gun and badge and tossed it to his brother. There was no way he was going to let her quit, and there was no way he was going to let Chris be pushed out because he’d been injured on the job.
It wasn’t like he contracted HIV from having sex with a hooker. He’d been doing an autopsy. That was a totally different game, and they all knew it.
Gabe got even redder.
“You too?” he asked Callen.
“Yep. I stand with a man I consider my brother, and I stand with my wife.”
Callen wasn’t bailing on his wife.
It wasn’t happening.
He was her ride or die bitch, and they were going down together. They were partners.
He was standing up for his wife, and her ex-lover.
Ironically enough.
“I quit.”
Ethan sighed.
Well, this escalated beyond where he wanted it to go. He should have known. It started out as quite the calm day and went to shit so fast.
“Ethan…”
Gabe stared at him.
It was time to choose sides.
“If Chris goes, I go. He’s not damaged. He was hurt on the job, and we owe it to him to stand behind him. He’s done this job for years, and he’s had everyone’s back. I’m resigning effective right now,” he said, pulling his badge off.
It hurt to do it, but his wife was right.
“I was going to move him somewhere else in the FBI. I wasn’t going to shit can him! Are all of you insane? He isn’t being fired, and you’re willing to give up your jobs?”
Yes.
Yes, they were.
In life, you had to make choices, and for family, they’d always go to bat. Chris was family.
He was theirs.
Elizabeth wasn’t done.
“If you move him, he’ll die. He is th
at job. He literally wrote the manuals. He teaches the other MEs that you hire. If you take this away from him, you might as well put a bullet in his head. I will NEVER forgive you if you do this.”
Gabe didn’t get it.
“Why is it you always have to protect him? Why is it that for the last ten years I’ve had to deal with this crazy? You have two men. It’s time to cut the third husband free. Stop collecting them!”
Callen immediately looked upset.
That was one of the things that Desdemona had told him before she ripped him a new one.
That Elizabeth collected men—that he was just one of her collection. For a second, that rattled him.
It stole his breath.
“He’s part of my life because when you bailed on me to play husband, he was all I had left. I was a pariah. I was damaged goods to this damn bureau. He was the ONLY one who stood by me, Gabriel. He protected me when no one else would. I am loyal to a fault, and I’m keeping husband number three. Fuck you!”
He stared at her.
“Have you lost your mind? I’m your boss. You’re being insubordinate.”
“I’m not wearing a badge, so you can kiss that convoluted theory goodbye. We’re equals now. You’re batshit insane if you think I’m going to let you play czar of my freaking life. Grow up! If he goes…”
“He quit,” he said, cutting her off.
She ripped up the paper and shoved the pieces in Ethan’s cold coffee until they were destroyed.
“Oh, look. He took it back!”
Gabe sputtered as he couldn’t stop her.
“You’re insane!”
“I learned it from you, Dad. I learned it from you,” she said sarcastically, getting him even more flustered. “Bad kids are taught and not born this way. Congrats! It’s a bad attituded, hundred and thirty-five-pound baby!”
He went red to the top of his bald head.
“How the hell do you deal with her stubbornness?” he asked both men.
They shook their heads.
No.
Freaking.
Way.
Their wife was deadly when she was at this point, and if she was defending family…
Yeah, no.
“Uh, don’t pull us into this,” Callen stated. “She likes us,” he declared.
And apparently her third husband.
That was not what he wanted to hear—ever. His gut was churning into a wicked brew. The last one in was the first one out.
Right?
“Where is he?” Elizabeth asked Ethan.
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