Only, it wasn’t him.
She gasped and took a step back, trying to move away from the man she’d just inadvertently invited into their home.
The armed man.
“What do you want?” she asked, placing her hands on her belly to protect her and Tony’s child.
“Hello, Pumpkin. Daddy is back at last.”
And then he pointed a gun right at her baby bump and put his finger on the trigger.
“Let’s talk.”
* * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *
Morgue
When she strolled in, Tony looked like he was about to pee his pants he was bouncing so much.
“What did you find?” she asked, knowing it had to be something good.
It was about time.
“I was just going to call you,” he admitted. “Chris and I found something, and you’re going to want to see this—ASAP!”
He led her to the table, and Chris was sitting there on a stool. She gave him a kiss on the lips.
“I’m glad to see you’re in one piece,” he stated. “We heard you found the person doing this,” he said, motioning to the three women’s remains.”
“Yep. I caught him red handed—so to speak,” she said. Well, it was red now that she’d nearly shot his fingers off. “What do you have? You have to make it quick. I have to interview the cuckoo to find the head cuckoo.”
Chris flipped open a medical file from the supermax. During Tony’s examination of the eighth set of bones, he’d seen something, and it was a long shot.
One that paid off.
“That’s Carl,” he said, pointing at the bones.
She didn’t even flinch.
“Was there a gunshot wound to a foot bone?” she asked.
“Yes, there was a chip to a bone and remodeling. How did you know?” Chris asked.
Oh, that was easy.
Here was her gut suspicion.
“I shot Carl that night in the Italian restaurant. That chip to his bone, and the remodeling was from me.”
Chris felt his heart skip.
“Yes, you did.”
Tony didn’t get it.
“Why are you not shocked?” Tony asked. “That’s like dropping a bomb, and you didn’t flinch. Why? How did you know?”
He glanced over at Chris.
“Why didn’t she at least gasp like I did?” he asked.
Chris knew her well.
“You suspected that, didn’t you?” he asked, seeing her face. He’d known her a long time.
“Yes.”
“How?” he asked. “When? I have a million questions.”
She wished she could explain, but she needed verification, and she needed it ASAP.
“All I can give you now is that when you said the bones were recently stripped, I had my suspicions. After what I learned tonight, it all fell into place in my gut.”
They’d have to accept that.
Tony’s phone beeped from a text, but he didn’t answer it.
“If everything works out,” she continued, “I’m going to have Carson and his mentor in a cage.”
“I can’t wait to hear all about this,” Chris said.
Oh, she couldn’t wait to tell them.
This was the final piece of the puzzle. In her head, she knew there could only be one person behind this. It answered the final question.
How did the killer know that O’Banion was alive?
Easy.
O’Banion had set this up.
Callen was right.
This was about revenge. Only, it wasn’t about revenge against him. O’Banion set this up to make Gabriel Rothschild pay for locking him in a ‘cage’ all those years ago. It had become his prison.
It had been the beginning of his lust for revenge.
He had wanted revenge against her, screwing with the evidence to make her chase a ghost that didn’t exist.
He’d wanted revenge against Carl Fitzpatrick, simply because his son had brought her to Boston, and it became the beginning of the end.
This whole thing was a culmination of an evil man’s quest to finish the game. Carl came here to kill O’Banion, but the boss took out the wise guy first and buried him…or his minion did.
Then, it was staged.
First, O’Banion picked victims that he would be connected to, and he knew that she’d have to save him if someone was gunning for him.
He left notes to make him look like he was in danger.
Of course she’d be called in to work it, and there was no doubt that he wanted her to chase her tail.
Oh, she was a target.
Elizabeth was glad she’d listened to her gut. It saved a whole lot of lives.
“You’re smiling,” Chris said. “Are you okay?”
“I’m golden. Stay here. I need you here,” she said, not giving him any more information. If she was a target, so was Chris. Only, he’d be easier to get.
She and Gabe had security.
“Promise me you won’t leave here without me. Promise me, Christopher.”
“I swear.”
She gave him a big kiss on the mouth, and then gave Tony a kiss on the forehead.
“Thank you for confirming my suspicions. Now, keep this to yourself,” she said, heading out. Elizabeth was going to make sure that her plan B was ready. As soon as she pulled out her phone, it rang.
Well, shit.
He had excellent timing.
“Hello?”
“You need to get over here. I have an issue,” he said.
“Where?” Elizabeth asked.
The second he told her, she knew she’d been right. From day one, she suspected this. This was EXACTLY why her gut was screaming.
It was time.
Jaxon was part of this too. O’Banion had asked her about his children. He wanted information, and he had it.
Yeah, the game was up.
She was over being jerked around. This was what she did for a living, and she was on to him.
What O’Banion thought was going to happen, wasn’t. His revenge wasn’t going to work.
“I’m on my way,” she said. “I just have to lose security, two husbands, and half of a building who’s watching me.”
Yeah, how hard could that possibly be?
She hung up.
Then she knew what she needed to do.
She dialed.
Ethan answered.
“Baby?”
“I need you to do something for me, and I can’t explain why. I need you to trust me,” she said.
There was a pause.
“Okay. Shoot.”
She told him.
He was silent.
“You’re kidding, right?”
“No. From the start, this has been what I thought it was. We were O’Banion’s puppets. I saw it and now I’m going to handle it.”
“Stay in the building.”
“Okay,” she said, lying her ass off. “Just wrap the interview and text me what he says. He’ll respond better to two men than me. He hates women.”
Ethan could see that.
Carson was screaming in pain, he was threatening to kill ‘the bitch who shot him’, and he was hopped up on some kind of drugs.
It looked like his profile had been on point.
“I’ll handle it, baby.”
“Thanks.”
What she didn’t tell him was she was going to handle one other thing. Her sights were set as she headed for the front door.
“I’ll text you,” Ethan promised.
She hung up.
Elizabeth saw Ivan waiting in the main lobby. This was where it was going to suck. She hoped he forgave her for what she was about to do.
Elizabeth needed to lose this Marine.
“Hey, Ivan!” she called, waving him over. “I need to speak to you.”
He moseyed her way, and into the conference room. She dropped the blinds and waited for him.
“Close the door.”
He did.<
br />
“What’s up?”
“Thank you for being a damn good bodyguard. I want you to know that I appreciate you, and you’re someone I respect.”
He stared at her like she was crazy.
“Uh, are you sick? Do you need a doctor?”
“I need a hug.”
This was new.
She moved toward him and into his body.
“Hey, whatever is bothering you…”
She stared him in the eyes.
“I’m sorry. I owe you one.”
“What?” he asked.
She hit him in the neck on that pressure point. He went down like a ton of Marine bricks into a slumped pile of bodyguard.
“I’m sorry, Ivan, but this is something I have to do alone.”
When she headed out, Heath found her at the door.
“Where are you going?” he asked. “Ivan won’t like if you go outside. I have to stick to you.”
She pulled a girl.
“I was looking for you,” she stated, trying out some hysterics to get him to believe her. “Ivan isn’t feeling well. Something happened,” she said, pointing at the room. “Hurry. He’s on the floor!”
Heath began running toward him.
Immediately, she dropped her watch from her wrist into the planter by the door and headed out.
She pulled the keys she’d just swiped out of Ivan’s pocket and headed for his ride. Security didn’t lo-jack their rides.
Perfect.
“Well, two decent men down, and one killer to go.”
With that, Elizabeth Blackhawk went to handle Michael O’Banion.
Only, what he didn’t know was she had backup.
He wasn’t the only one out for revenge.
This had been a long time coming.
* * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *
Magnus Home
He had her sit on the couch and he crushed her cell phone beneath his boot. Michael couldn’t believe how much Jaxon looked like her mother.
It was eerie.
“Daddy,” she began.
“Stop, Jaxon. Just stop. I’m not going to kill you. You’re not the one I want to pay for all of this. I forgive you for abandoning me. I forgive your brother for doing it.”
She didn’t know what to say.
“What have you done, Daddy?” she asked, trying to soothe the baby. Her child was freaking out, and she couldn’t blame it.
She was too.
“The day they put me at Gitmo, I knew I’d get my revenge. They stripped me of everything,” he said. “They took my money, my home, my protection. They made me into nothing,” he said, waving the gun around.
“Daddy.”
He stopped her.
“You left, your brother left, and I knew that Joey and Carl would be coming for me. I had Carl’s son executed in prison for getting caught. While he was playing ‘Boston Strangler’ wannabe, I let him go. I let him spread his wings, but when he got caught…”
She listened.
“Then Elizabeth came to town, and I could have had her. I wanted her more than anything. When I’m told I can’t have something, I’ll kill for it.”
He paced with the gun in his hand.
“She outed Kai Fitzpatrick, and he had to die. So, he was killed. The FBI played dirty games. They planted evidence to send Joey and Carl to jail, knowing I would be alone. Then they made me die. They took me away from the world. MY world!”
Jaxon realized something.
He was crazy.
There was madness there as he paced, waving that gun. In that moment, she knew she was dead. He was going to kill her—despite what he’d said.
Jaxon was going to die.
She wanted to weep.
“So, I had to do this. I met Carson, and I made him into Carl’s protégé. I made him into a killer, so I could wield him like a hammer. He never knew me as Michael O’Banion. He was oblivious. He actually believed I was Carl Fitzpatrick. I pointed him at Carl as soon as I realized he’d showed up here. He was his first kill, and he placed him with the others.”
She was horrified.
“After that, I promised him that I was going to help him be a hired criminal. He was an idiot.”
“But you lost control of him, didn’t you?” she asked.
He laughed.
“Yes. He raped the women. Once I found that out, I knew I was going to have to end this. He can identify me. As soon as I’m done with this mess, I’ll end that one. Then I’ll live in the prison they sent me to all those years ago—mediocrity.”
“Elizabeth…”
“Oh, she’ll come save you. See, when you make an omelet, you have to break a few eggs, baby girl. I told you that as a child. I told your mother that. In order for me to do my thing, sometimes, I have to shed some blood.”
Jaxon was sick.
“You had mom killed, didn’t you?”
He laughed.
“She wanted out, and she knew too much. I had no choice. Carl was kind enough to change it up and handle her for me. She was an issue, and I had to clean up my mess.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“I’m sorry your brother is dead. I heard about him. I would have loved to put a bullet in his head, too, that ungrateful cur.”
“He died serving his country,” she said, lying to protect Jagger. If she was going to die, she’d make sure he didn’t. Jagger always had her back, and she’d have his.
“Too bad. I would have liked to say goodbye. Now, call her,” he said, handing her his phone. “She’ll come to save you. I’ve studied Elizabeth. I’ve watched her. I know her better than anyone.”
“And if I don’t?” she asked.
He moved closer and put the nose of the gun on her baby belly.
“I’ll shoot your baby, and you’ll slowly die as it quickly dies.”
She took the phone.
Her only chance of survival was tied to Elizabeth. It would be Jaxon asking her to sacrifice her life for her and her baby’s.
She took the phone.
“Get her here. Alone. If she brings backup, that baby dies.”
She dialed.
And Jaxon prayed.
* * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *
She was on her way there when her cell phone rang. It was Ethan, and she knew the shit was going to hit the fan. By now, Ivan was awake, the dogs had been called out, and she was going to have very little time.
“Yo,” she said.
“Where the bloody hell are you?” he practically shouted into the phone.
“Handling the situation.”
He paused.
Elizabeth could hear him moving away from people.
“Elizabeth, you physically assaulted your security, you stole a vehicle, and you made a shit mess. Why?”
“Did he identify Carl as O’Banion?” she asked.
“Yes.”
That was all she needed.
“Callen is having a stroke, Ivan is ready to press charges, and I’m going to have a heart attack. They are trying to track your phone, but it’s not coming up.”
Ahhhh, thank God for that tech.
She tried to reassure him.
“I have a plan B. It’s been in place since the minute I heard that we were going to babysit O’Banion. I’m ready for this. I need you to trust me. Gabe told me to handle this.”
“You can’t pull that trigger. You promised Callen. He’s freaked out that you’ll do it, and so am I.”
“I have NEVER broken a promise. Trust me. I’ll explain later, and if Ivan wants to press charges, he can.”
He sighed.
“Ethan, let me do my job. Let me handle this. Keep the dogs off me for a little while. I’m safe. I swear I’m safe. I have backup.”
She told him who.
“Jesus! You are out of…”
The beep cut him off.
“Oh look. O’Banion is calling me, Ethan. I have to go. I love you. Tell Callen I love him too. I’ll
be back as soon as this is handled. I promise.”
She hung up.
“Blackhawk,” she said, answering the phone.
“Elizabeth?”
“Jaxon, I’m on my way.”
The woman began crying.
“I’m coming. Tell Daddy Dearest I’ll be there in five,” she said.
“I’m scared.”
There was laughter in the background.
“Don’t be. I’m ready. I’ll swap me for you. I’ll let him take me so you and your baby live.”
“Please don’t. It’s okay. You have babies too.”
And that was love.
It reminded her of Maeve and how she’d sold her out. This woman was equally scared and had just as much to lose and she didn’t betray her.
That was family.
For that…she’d fight to the bloody end.
She could hear O’Banion cursing in the background at what she said.
“Jax, I’m coming.”
And she cut off the call.
As she drove down the street, she stopped at the location she’d been told to head to, and she pushed open the door.
He hopped in.
“Marine, are you ready?” she said, glancing over at Jagger Armstrong.
“He has my fucking sister. I couldn’t get to him before she opened the door. We have to save Jaxon.”
Oh, she was aware.
The second she knew this was O’Banion, she knew he had to die. Only, she couldn’t be the one to kill him.
A ghost had to chase a ghost.
And she’d picked one that wanted revenge on a man who destroyed his world, and his sister’s so many years ago.
“We will.”
“I have a plan.”
She told him.
Elizabeth handed him her gun.
It was time.
Michael O’Banion was about to meet the jury who was going to convict him.
And then sentence him to death.
* * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *
Hoover Building
Dead are Forgotten Page 59