That was what had sounded so familiar before, and now with this death, he finally got it.
“William Shakespeare.”
They all looked over at him as if he had some crazy form of Tourette’s.
“What?” Blackhawk asked.
“Did no one read in college?” he asked. “Really? They are the classics. You’d think people who hunted murderers would be all about Shakespeare. That dude was twisted and sick in the head when it came to killing people.”
She raised her hand. “I happened to read a lot. Why are you all smiling and giddy?”
“This is amazing.”
She stared at him. “You think being buried in the ground while bugs feast on your brain is amazing? That gets you going?”
“Yes!”
She looked over at her other husband. “He’s your gene pool. I only sleep with him for his sexy body. You figure that crazy out.”
Ethan laughed. “Pass. I have no idea where to even go with his last statement.”
Even the team groaned when a worm fell out of the rotting skull. It was damn gross.
Callen figured he should probably explain before his spouses had him committed.
“These killings are William Shakespeare murders, Elizabeth. Maybe I get it because I’m a writer, but Shakespeare was particularly clever when he killed his victims. Your killer is mimicking him.”
She tried to think back to Shakespeare’s plays, but she’d been busy kicking ass and taking names to stay in shape so she could make a killing at the FBI academy. Oh, she’d read a lot of books, but they’d all been psychology and pertaining to killers.
Who, in their right mind, considered William Shakespeare to be a knowledgeable source of killing information?
Exactly…
Callen noticed no one was getting it, so he opted to clue them in.
“In Hamlet, Ophelia drowns.”
They didn’t say anything.
“Okay, that’s pretty mild, but how about this coincidence. In Julius Caesar, Portia kills herself by swallowing hot coals. When I heard that yesterday, it triggered something, but this death…this is right on the mark.”
Elizabeth had to defer this one to him.
She wasn’t familiar with his works. If Callen was, well...then he was going to have to point her in the right direction on this one.
“What was this one?”
“In Titus Andronicus, Arron was buried up to his neck as punishment and left to starve to death.”
She glanced over at Chris. “Was he really alive under all of that?”
“Well, he suffocated at some point when the mulch blocked out all the air, but there is mulch up his nose, so he definitely took a few breaths.”
“And you’re sure?” she asked her husband. Callen needed to be spot on with this one if she was going to use it for the investigation. Normally, it was Ethan who pointed her in the right direction. He was tested over years and damn good at it, but Callen was fresh out of the gate.
There was a huge risk.
Callen saw the concern.
“Elizabeth, I may not be good at solving things, or a profiler like Ethan, but I do know my books. We have a killer who is taking lives based on William Shakespeare.”
She pondered what they did know.
They had two people connected to the National Theater Association. They put on plays, and probably had done a few Shakespearean ones too. It wasn’t far-fetched at all. Callen might be on to something.
In fact, he was the ONLY one of them onto anything at this point, and had he not been part of this, she NEVER would have considered this angle.
Who the hell would?
This had the makings of crazy written all over it—that was for damn sure.
“Come here.”
Callen did as she asked.
Elizabeth grabbed him by the face, pulled his lips to hers, and laid a big one right on his mouth. Callen didn’t fight it.
He wasn’t an idiot.
If his wife was going to share the love, in public, and on a crime scene, so be it. He even got a token of the heated moment. It was bubblegum flavored, and he couldn’t help but grin.
He loved his life.
“I should be the one being kissed,” Ethan stated in protest. “I wasn’t able to eat my lunch thanks to this mess.”
She laughed.
“Callen, smart men are incredibly sexy. When we get home, you get some extra Lyzee presents.”
“Yay!”
“Uh, I’m smart,” Chris teased.
“Yeah, but still not smart enough not to say that in front of my husbands, so there’s your answer.”
He winked at her.
It was time to share everything she had found out while she was out with Callen doing the interviews. Elizabeth told them about the fifty thousand dollar check, the will—where the association got everything, and her newly founded suspicions.
Ethan had already known about the money. “Seaton and Madden already found that one out.”
“When?” she asked. “They could have sent me the information,” Elizabeth stated.
“They told me right before getting the call to come here. They’d just briefed me, and I was going to call and clue you in, baby.”
She believed him. This wasn’t Ethan trying to take over, and that helped her relax.
“Speaking of the devils, where are they?”
Chris continued scanning the upper part of the man’s body, but he still answered her. “They’re questioning the men who found the body. They figured you’d want all your bases covered while you harassed me.”
She marked it off her mental list.
Her team knew her, and knew her well.
Here was the proof.
The detective had been silent until that moment. “Okay, so we have Shakespearean deaths and a theater company somehow tied up into this mess. We may actually have an easy case,” Boone stated. “I may not have needed the FBI’s help.”
The entire team groaned the second the words were out of his mouth.
“What?” Boone asked, looking around. “Why are they all giving me that look?”
Merry glanced up at him. “You just jinxed us. Now something bad is going to happen. That’s why they’re giving you that look.”
He started laughing. “Seriously? All of you scientists actually believe that BS? I’m the religious one. You can’t tell me that there is any scientific fact based on that.”
Elizabeth shook her head.
She was with her team on this one. They’d done this long enough to know that when someone uttered those words, they were going to regret it.
Fate was a bitch—only second to her sister, Karma.
“We’re screwed three days to Sunday on this one,” Elizabeth stated.
Even Ethan agreed. “Detective, be ready for the shit storm. There’s an FBI saying. ‘If you say easy, you’ll be begging for the crazy to arrive,” he stated.
Boone laughed. “I think you’re worried about nothing. You can’t jinx people.”
They hoped he was right, but they knew in all likelihood, he was dead wrong.
“Team, just get this handled,” Elizabeth said. “Callen, I need to talk to you.”
He didn’t hesitate to follow her a short distance from the body.
“What do you need, angel?”
“Other than my gum back?” she stated, holding out her hand.
He handed it over. “My bad. Maybe next time you should warn me before you kiss me like that. It’s not my fault that your tongue was in my mouth.”
She snorted.
He had a point.
“As much as I like busting ass on the crime scene to keep it light, I need the cliff notes on how the characters died. I need it fast too.”
“Well, there’s poison, hanging, fire, suffocation…”
He stopped.
“What?”
“Babies were baked in a pie.”
Elizabeth glanced over at Ethan. “Can you call th
e house and make sure Dad is alert and security is locked down?”
He pulled out his phone. They weren’t taking any chances. The only baby they knew of was Christopher Anthony, and no one wanted to take that chance.
Callen was immediately edgy, and no one could blame him. That visual turned all of their stomachs.
His tension was clearly written in the lines around his mouth. He looked anxious. His normal calm demeanor was gone the second they discussed his son.
Christopher Anthony had a rough start coming into the world, and the last thing Callen wanted to picture was him baked into a pie.
Suddenly, his enthusiasm had waned. This case wasn’t as cool as it had been a few minutes ago.
In fact, this killer sucked.
For a second, he was thinking how this would make a great book for next year’s lineup.
Yeah, now…not so much.
“Hey, Cal,” she said, touching his cheek. “He’s going to be fine. We have this. No one is targeting us. We’re in the clear and just covering our bases.”
He had to trust her.
Elizabeth didn’t lie.
Chris began ordering the team to get moving. “We have to dig him up and take back most of the dirt around him for trace. Someone call Tony and tell him we have bugs coming. He’ll prep the morgue with the right equipment.”
The techs began scurrying.
Ethan headed back toward his family. “Security has been increased, and Dad is alerted. No one is getting into the house. The dogs are there too. Kanje and Sungila won’t let anyone near those kids. It took security two weeks to even hold CJ’s hand to take him to school.”
She was glad.
Callen relaxed as his brother reassured him.
Now they needed to get down to work too. Crossing back toward the body, Elizabeth supervised her team as they began the process of digging Roman Conley out of the mulch.
It was going to take time.
Elizabeth stood over the body beside Merry, as the tech crouched beside Roman Conley. She hoped the city MEs didn’t try to get their hands on this body. When dealing with the local cops, they might try anything.
She’d seen it happen before. It was best to cut this off at the pass beforehand.
“Ethan?” she said, glancing over to inform him he might not be done running interference. As soon as she did, she saw it in the trees above his shoulder.
Something shiny caught her eye.
There was that second it took to register, right before she knew what the hell was about to happen. She’d seen that sparkle in the distance more times than she wanted to recall.
“GUN!” she shouted, in time to hear the first bullet go off.
Ethan jumped on the detective, taking him to the ground in a pile of limbs.
Callen hit the ground beside them as the bullet splintered the tree above their heads. There was no doubt who that was meant for out of the three men. The detective was wearing a bull’s-eye.
Before Elizabeth could hit the ground, Merry stood.
“Boone!” she shouted.
Elizabeth had a feeling it wasn’t over. Without thinking, she turned, placing her body in front of Merry out of instinct. There was one more shot fired, and then she felt the impact of the bullet as it hit her square in the back.
It took her to the ground, Merry beneath her.
No one moved for that split second.
Callen jumped up, ready to race after the shooter. Only he was the only one who got up. Ethan was checking on the detective beneath him.
Whitefox glanced over at the women. They weren’t moving.
“Elizabeth?”
She didn’t move.
Screw going after the shooter. They could hear the running in the distance. There was no way they’d catch him.
They had a bigger issue.
Ethan was up now, and they were moving toward their wife. She still wasn’t getting off Merry. Then they saw the hole in the back of her FBI jacket. It was smack dab in the middle of the yellow lettering.
“Jesus!” Ethan muttered, dropping to his knees as the rest of the team stayed pressed to the ground for their protection.
“Elizabeth!” Callen said, touching her leg.
Fear took over.
When they rolled her over, she was struggling to breathe, but alive.
So far.
“Call an ambulance!” Ethan shouted.
“Is Merry okay?” she managed to get out as the wind was knocked out of her. That shot to her spine was a bitch.
“Where are you hit?” Callen asked, beginning to run his hands all over her chest to feel for blood.
“Back.”
Ethan slipped his hands beneath the jacket, and he felt it.
“She’s vested up.”
Boone was pulling Merry into his body. “Cher!”
She began weeping. “Is Elizabeth okay? She saved us! Jesus! She saved me and our baby!”
The whole scene got quiet. Merry had just let the cat out of the bag on the pregnancy. Up to that point, they knew she was being stalked, but this upped the game.
“Angel?”
She struggled to sit up. “Good thing I put my vest on,” she muttered as Ethan helped her pull off her jacket and shirt. Beneath it was her body armor, and it had seen better days.
There was a giant hole in the back.
“He was shooting a high powered rifle,” Ethan stated. “It was spot on. That’s right where Merry’s head would have been.”
Boone held Merry even closer to his body. She was shaking in his arms. They’d come close on this one. Thank God for Elizabeth and her quick reflexes. She’d used her body as a shield.
What she’d told Boone in New Orleans was spot on. They were like her baby ducks. She was protecting her own.
Elizabeth began coughing.
“I need that ambulance,” she said.
Both men were worried. That wasn’t a sentence she’d ever say. The second it was out of her mouth, Chris was crawling toward her.
“Lyzee, what’s wrong?”
“I think that asshole broke my ribs.”
They now had to worry.
Never, in all of their time with Elizabeth had she ever wanted to go to the hospital.
Never.
Chris began running his hands across her body, checking her ribcage.
“Doc, don’t enjoy this,” she muttered, still trying to breathe.
“Too late,” he offered, trying to lighten the tension. Both Callen and Ethan looked beyond freaked out.
“She definitely needs to see a doctor. She needs an x-ray. I don’t feel anything, but it’s better safe than sorry.”
That was all her husbands had to hear.
“Baby,” Ethan said, scooping her up in his arms. He could hear the ambulance coming.
“Have Merry checked out too,” she said into his ear. “I landed on her pretty hard. I tried to roll, but that bullet really sucked.”
“Callen.”
Ethan didn’t have to say anything more.
“I have the scene. Make sure she’s fine. Boone! Take Merry to the hospital too.”
The detective didn’t hesitate to scoop his girl up from the ground and race out of the line of fire. The shooter had stopped, but he wasn’t taking any chances.
“Team, stay down,” Callen ordered. “I’m going into the woods.”
Elizabeth heard him, and immediately, she stared back at him as Ethan Carried her away. ‘Be careful, my love,’ she mouthed.
He touched his heart. ‘I love you.’
Then Callen Whitefox got to work.
He had an asshole to hunt, and when he found him...
He was a dead man.
* * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *
The ambulance ride was silent. Ethan was too shaken up. As he sat there, Elizabeth in his arms, the medics were focused primarily on Merry.
She was pregnant and had a one hundred and thirty pound woman land on her. She came first.
Everything.
Now he got why Gabe was so damn freaked out. It was bad enough being there and watching it happen, but to be sitting in your office and get that call?
It was scary shit.
“I’m okay,” she whispered in his ear. “I’m good, Ethan. It was just scary.”
He held her so tightly against him, Ethan feared he’d suffocate her. “Elizabeth, you terrify me. Every day, I’m more and more scared you’re not going to make it home.”
There.
He said it.
To lighten the blow of his words, he left little kisses across her neck as he held her.
“I’m sorry.”
Tears filled her eyes.
Ethan had two choices. He could be the boss and handle the situation, or he could rage around like the lunatic husband, making the problem even worse.
He opted for A.
Why make his wife more upset?
“Shhhh, baby, it’s okay. Everything is going to be okay. I promise. What you did…you did something amazing today. You saved Merry and her child. Let’s focus on that.”
She stared up at him. “Who are you and where did you stash the real Ethan Blackhawk?”
He wiped the tears with the pad of his thumb. “I’m a very terrified man who is trying to keep it in check, and he’s right here holding the woman he loves.”
She rested against him. The scent of his cologne and the feel of the silk tie against her face were cathartic.
“I scare me too,” she admitted, and it was true. When she put her body in front of Merry, it was instinct. There wasn’t time to think about her five kids at home or how the bullet could have stolen her from the men she loved.
It was done impulsively.
She was the boss, and she had to protect her team.
Ethan relaxed as he helped soothe her frazzled nerves. He knew what had her so freaked out.
Had that plate in the back of her vest failed…
She wouldn’t have lived through that gunshot. It was dead center to her back, and right where her heart was. She wouldn’t have been coming home.
Well, at least his wife wasn’t insane. She had some common sense. Ethan couldn’t blame her. He knew why she did it.
Act of Blood (An FBI/Romance Thriller ~ Book 16) Page 20