Act of Blood (An FBI/Romance Thriller ~ Book 16)

by Kelley, Morgan

  Yeah, they grew up way too fast.

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

  Hoover Building

  Psychology Division

  When she strolled in, he was sitting there working on his tablet. Chris looked nervous, and she suspected that the work was to keep him from freaking out.

  It was clear that he was mentally preparing himself for what was to come. Meeting with the FBI shrink was the equivalent to having your fears tossed around the room until you wanted to puke.

  Elizabeth didn’t blame him.

  She hated the psych evaluations.

  Therapy?

  It was a million times worse.

  “Come here often, Doc?” she asked, catching him off guard.

  When he looked up and recognized who was speaking to him, his face said it all.

  Chris stood.

  “Honey! What are you doing here? I didn’t see you at home, and I thought you’d headed into work already.”

  Yeah, she was working all right.

  Working it with two sexy Natives in the shower to get them all off.

  “I just got in.”

  “I told you that I was okay with therapy. I don’t need you here.”

  “Actually, you do, and before you think I’m babying you, I’m not. I’m here to do what you said. I’m going to bury the hatchet.”

  “You are?”

  That shocked him.

  “Yes. It’s time. I figured I’d do it now in your honor. I know it makes you feel like you’ve come between Callista and myself, and I don’t want you feeling like that.”

  Chris opened his arms, and she went into them. As he hugged her, she rested her head on his shoulder.

  She couldn’t count the times she’d done this in her life. Whenever she needed her best friend and brother, this was the remedy he’d come up with.

  Well, that or wine and a movie.

  It was their thing.

  As she stood there, letting him hold her, she rubbed her hands up and down his back.

  That’s when she felt it.

  “You’re carrying.”

  “I am.”

  She didn’t look at him. If she did, she’d cry. So much had happened to make Christopher Leonard believe in carrying a gun. Part of it was Cyra’s death, and part was Rolland LeBleu trying to kill her.

  She never thought she’d see this day.

  Instead of talking him out of it, she went with what she knew. “You, me, firing range, and then pizza for a date?”

  He relaxed.

  Chris was pretty sure she was going to tell him to lose the gun, and right now, he needed it.

  Would he ever fire it after taking that detective’s life?

  He didn’t know, but having it, at least, made him feel a little better.

  He was safe.

  Bethe was safe.

  Elizabeth was safe.

  That was what he needed to move forward, and he knew it. Now he could focus on healing.

  “Thank you, Elizabeth.”

  “For?” she asked.

  “For knowing what to say and what not to say to me. You’ll never know how much I appreciate it.”

  Oh, she knew.

  He did the same for her.

  “Anything, Newton. I’d do anything for you.”

  Chris took her face in his hands and stared into her eyes. “And that’s why I trust myself and my child’s life to only you, Elizabeth.”

  He gave her a kiss on the lips, and then held her a little longer. He knew therapy was going to suck.

  Chris needed this.

  She was his strength.

  From the doorway of her office, she watched them. Honestly, Callista Gaines was shocked Elizabeth was there. Yes, they’d crossed paths a few times since New Orleans, but her reception had been incredibly chilly.

  As in she was dead to the woman.

  They’d maybe said two words in weeks.

  She knew why Elizabeth was angry, and she respected that, but there were two sides to every story.

  As the two embraced, she recognized it. While others saw it as sexual, it wasn’t. Clearly, it was a bond that ran deep. Whenever she saw Lucas Mars, he held her the same way. What Chris had said about them being siblings was true.

  She could see it in action.

  They were protecting each other. They were soothing the wounds that no one could see. The scars had been formed a long time ago—along with their bond.

  He was comforting her with the embrace, and she was returning the favor just by leaning against him.

  This was love.

  “I didn’t expect you to bring someone with you, Doctor Leonard.”

  They both turned around.

  Callie watched the body language. Elizabeth placed herself in front of the man, guarding him.

  It was typical Elizabeth.

  She did this with Ethan, Callen, and now Chris.

  She expected it.

  “I came on my own,” Elizabeth said, crossing her arms across her chest in a defensive manner.

  Yeah, she was still pissed. Callie could see it with the look, hear it with the tone of voice, and recognize the body language.

  “Well, you’re always welcome here to see me or to be with Doctor Leonard.”

  “Actually, I’m here to say something to you, and then I’m heading out in the field. I have a crazy to catch.”

  “Yes, I saw you on the news. Well, I saw Callen. How is he holding up?”

  “He’s titanium, but you know that, don’t you? You put him back together again, and Ethan too. That’s why I’m here.”

  “Get it off your chest then.”

  With Elizabeth, it was best not to BS her or to sugar coat it. She saw through it all.

  “What you did was three days past shitty. I get that you showed up in New Orleans to help my husband, but we were friends. If your husband was planning an ambush, I would have at the minimum sent you a text message to give you a heads up.”

  She listened.

  “Chris matters to me, and I’d take a bullet for him.”

  “You’d pretty much take a bullet for anyone who works for you, Elizabeth. You have a great responsibility to your team.”

  “Stop shrinking me and listen.”

  Callie closed her mouth.

  “From one Southern girl to another, you don’t pull shit like that. I offered you my friendship, and I don’t trust just anyone with the people I love. I trusted you with myself.”

  “I know you see what I did as betrayal, but it wasn’t.”

  Chris wrapped his arm around her waist, resting his hand between her gun and side. He was offering her support as she did what she felt was right.

  He trusted her, and he hated to see them fighting—especially over what had happened.

  “What was it then? It certainly felt like betrayal.”

  “It was me buying Christopher time.”

  “Chris, if you please,” he corrected.

  She nodded. “Certainly. Chris needed time or Ethan was going to yank him. I had to show up to give you some leeway. I didn’t want it to escalate. There was a slippery slope. Really, Elizabeth, this isn’t about you. It’s about Chris’s therapy.”

  “Do you discuss me in his sessions?”

  “That’s not something I can address.”

  She glanced over at a man she knew wouldn’t lie or hide the truth from her.

  “We do, Lyzee,” Chris stated.

  She patted his cheek and stared at him with nothing but affection. Then she turned that icy blue gaze back at the doctor. “Then it is about me.”

  Callie knew she wasn’t going to win this one. This was Elizabeth Blackhawk and to her it was black or white.

  It was right or wrong.

  There was never a halfway or an in-between.

  She ran her world with a different code.

  “I’m sorry I hurt you.”

  Her face softened. “I forgive you, Doctor Gaines. I genuinely like you, but this i
s your warning. If you want to be my friend, truly want that, then you need to choose sides. You can’t play them both. Ethan may never cross that line, but if he does, you’re either going to tow the company line, or you’re going to have my back. It’s as simple as that. I’d flip off the FBI for the people I love.”

  “I can’t make that choice, Elizabeth. He’s the Deputy Director. If he says do something, I do it.”

  She laughed.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Here’s something about him that you don’t know,” she stated. “Ethan comes across as bossy, demanding, and to the point, but if you stand up to him, giving him a damn good reason why, he listens. Had you said, ‘I can’t choose between work and Elizabeth’, he would have let you off the hook.”

  She wasn’t so sure of that.

  Then again, this woman was the center of Ethan’s world. There was no doubt that when he looked at her, the moon, stars, and sun revolved around her for him.

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  She turned to face Chris. “I’m sorry I couldn’t bury it deeper. This is all I can do, Newton.”

  He got it.

  She gave the woman a chance, and it would come down to time and what went down on the doctor’s end. That was all he wanted from her, and she’d delivered.

  Elizabeth always did.

  When she pulled a candy bar out of her pocket, and slipped it into his, he grinned at her.

  “I love you.”

  “Same here, Newton. I’ll see you later.” She saluted Callie with two fingers and gave Chris a kiss on the cheek. “You and I have a date. Don’t forget it.”

  How could he?

  She walked away.

  “Stay safe, Elizabeth!” he called after her. She turned and winked at him, and some of the pressure alleviated from his chest.

  “I’m ready, Doctor,” he said, grabbing his messenger bag.

  “She’s something,” Callie stated.

  He didn’t argue because to him, she was everything.

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

  Violent Crime Division

  Eight Thirty A.M

  When she strolled in, both directors were there. That was not the norm.

  Not at all.

  If the two of them were in a room together, there were ill winds blowing.

  “Wow, what do I owe this to?” she asked, heading toward the two men, and Callen.

  “We came to see you off,” Ethan stated. “I have meetings all morning, and I wanted to see my wife one more time for the day.”

  He took her hand in his, joining them together.

  “Report, Director. What’s your game plan today?” Gabe asked.

  She laughed.

  All the people in the room looked at her as if she was bat shit insane. This was Gabriel Rothschild. When he rolled into a room and asked a question, you jumped.

  You didn’t get the giggles.

  She was crazy.

  “Elizabeth.”

  “Okay, okay, take a chill pill. Livy and I, when she gets here, are heading to the National Theater. We have to get down and dirty with the crazy director of some plays.”

  “Do you think she’s involved?” Gabe asked.

  “Team? Do I think she’s involved?” Elizabeth asked.

  It was all she had to say.

  “She’s done a few plays that line up with this, she has a background in Shakespearian literature, and we can connect all the victims to that group,” Johanna stated.

  “And what else?” she asked.

  “She’s been struggling financially since the economy tanked. Less rich people are going to the theater, instead working more hours. So membership has declined, and she’s been in hot water with the theater,” Brody offered.

  “So, she’s financially struggling, and she’s connected to the victims. In fact, one victim, Fern Yoder, donated how much to the group in her will?” Elizabeth asked.

  There was typing.

  “Five million dollars,” Johanna offered.

  Gabe was impressed. He only wished all of his directors had their teams organized and scared shitless. It would make his life so much easier if they did.

  “So she might be the killer?”

  “Agent Seaton?” asked Gabe.

  “She has some health issues, so it isn’t like that’s a fact, sir, unless she’s working with someone. We’re currently trying to dig up the names of all the members of the troupe, and we will have something later for the boss lady.”

  Gabe grinned. “They’re good.”

  “You’re only as good as the people you surround yourself with,” she offered. “It’s why I wanted to pick this team, and I work with my husbands.”

  “I’m also here for another reason,” Gabe offered.

  “What?” she asked.

  “I received a call from the Metro police division.”

  She sighed. “Detective Nelson?”

  He nodded.

  “I didn’t steal their damn case. They came here, Gabe. If I had a dollar for every time a cop had a big ol’ hate on for me, I’d be as rich as Callen.”

  “Hey!”

  She winked at him.

  “Well, I shut it down. In fact, Detective Savage is off the case.”

  She didn’t look happy.

  “What?”

  “He has to stay,” she stated.

  Ethan stepped in and took one for the team. He tried to convince Gabe that they needed the man with them.

  Gabe looked around. “Where is he?”

  “He’s in the lab.”

  They owed their boss the truth. Ethan broke it down, explaining everything that had happened, and what they were working on to stop Derek Zanders.

  He listened and then made up his mind.

  “You have a day or two at the most, Elizabeth. I can call them and stall, but you better lock this down, and fast. He’s a cop, not a babysitter.”

  Oh, she was aware.

  “Thank you for the time.”

  He glanced over as his wife entered the room. She was smiling, had two cups of coffee, and looked ready to go.

  Gabe’s heart skipped.

  “Here you go, partner.”

  Elizabeth laughed. “Do you have the gasoline, napalm, and anthrax?” she asked. “We have some mayhem to whip up.”

  “Elizabeth,” Ethan stated, trying to warn his wife not to piss their boss off with her antics. Gabe was riled up enough. His salt and pepper hair was standing up in tufts from where his hands had disheveled it.

  “Don’t stir them up, Lyzee,” Livy warned. “It’s actually a small incendiary device. Where the hell would I get napalm? No one uses that shit anymore. I know because I Googled it, and a lot of porn, from Gabriel’s work computer.”

  “Olivia Rothschild!” Gabe stated, his mouth hanging open. “Already, she’s ruined you and you haven’t even gone out the door yet!”

  Callen snorted.

  The fun began.

  The ladies were going to stir it up while they were out on the street, and all the men knew it. This was going to be a long day for all of them.

  “Be safe,” Ethan warned. Then he opened his arms.

  She didn’t do kissy face in the workplace, but they were in her division. Everyone there knew she loved the men in her life, so she went into his arms.

  “I love you. I’ll swing by your office later.”

  “Make sure you do that.”

  She set him free and went to Callen. “You, me, and lunch, sexy.”

  “Absolutely, angel. You can buy, since you’re not happy with using me for my money.”

  “Well played, partner. Help the agents do the searches, paperwork monkey. I’ll catch you later. I have some actors to harass.”

  “Elizabeth,” Ethan warned.

  “I mean question in a kind and gentle manner so they end up believing everything they’ve heard about me to be nothing but a lie.”

  That made him and everyone else in the room l
augh.

  Livy kissed her husband. “I’ll be back later. I’ll miss you, Gabriel.”

  Yeah, he would do more than miss her.

  “Be safe, Olivia.”

  “I’m with Elizabeth. What could possibly happen?” she asked, right before winking at him.

  When the women were gone, both men reached for their phones. They pulled them out and began dialing without even saying a word to each other.

  Callen watched in confusion.

  Then he heard the conversations as the two men gave the order for both of the family security detail to follow the women.

  Callen already knew what was coming. A smart man would see this disaster as it unfolded.

  Heads were going to roll.

  Theirs.

  “If they spot those security tails, you two are going to be riding solo for a very long time,” he warned.

  They didn’t care.

  These were their wives, and there was a line.

  Ethan shook Gabe’s hand, and he didn’t even feel an ounce of remorse over it.

  He was protecting his own.

  Gabe was doing the same.

  Apparently, the director apple didn’t fall far from the overprotective tree.

  Chapter Thirteen

  National Theater

  It was good to be back in the field. Livy was super excited to be riding with Elizabeth again. It brought back all the memories of when they were two newbies trying to fix the world.

  Who knew it was going to change them?

  Now that they were side by side, she was damn excited to be back at the FBI. It had been a bitch requalifying, but she’d made it, and here was her reward.

  “You look like the freaking cat who swallowed the canary,” Elizabeth offered.

  “It’s surreal. I feel like no time has gone by. This is just like it used to be. The two of us out there solving things.”

  Elizabeth started laughing about that. “Oh, Livy, I have really bad news for you. Fifteen years ago, the killers were crackers. Now? They are a whole new level of insane. With all the violence on TV, mental issues, and guns available, we’re going to be like ducks in the shooting gallery.”

  She glanced over at her friend.