Blackhawk didn’t see a problem. The FBI can get ATV’s in to get scene accessibility. Are you going to be okay running this one?”
Whitefox nearly dropped his phone. “What did you say?” This was officially his worst case scenario. This would be his first time in charge, and he really wasn’t an assignment boss kind of guy.
Elizabeth started laughing. “You caught this one, Cal. You’re a director, and this isn’t your first murder. You’ve watched us do it a few times. I never thought I’d say this, but you’re the boss.”
He was beginning to get sick to his stomach. “Um, okay.”
Blackhawk was grinning at the sound of terror in his brother’s voice. “What do you need?”
Callen took a deep breath, knowing he could do this. They were right. It was time he stepped up and earned his stripes. “I need three to four agents for the field. I want Tony Magnus and Chris Leonard in for body retrieval. We can work out of the police station on the Rez, so get me Christina and two other techs to work the lab too.”
Ethan was making notes on his phone, sending out texts to the team. “You lucked out. Both doctors are currently in house and available, so I’ll get them mobilized.”
“We need a place for the agents and the tech team to stay,” added Whitefox.
“I’m emailing Ginny to book the hotel for the team right now.” He finished his email and sent it off. “Anything else?”
“I need authorization to utilize Julian. If the killer was this far back into the woods, then I need him tracked.” Whitefox glanced over at Julian, and he nodded, accepting the assignment.
Elizabeth spoke up. “I’ll sign off on his expense. Is that all you need initially?”
Callen thought about it. “I think that’s about it. I’ll send my GPS location and Julian, Tori and I will stay here until the team arrives.”
Ethan thought about it. “You have one little thing left to handle before the team can roll into town.”
“What?”
Blackhawk grinned. “You may want to contact the local council and tell them that you have bodies and the FBI is about to descend onto the scene.”
Crap! That wasn’t going to go over well at all. “Terrific. I wonder why that escaped my mind,” he added, sarcastically.
“Is it going to get ugly?” Elizabeth questioned, hating to see Callen in between a rock and a hard place. His job was difficult enough.
There wasn’t even an answer, only sardonic laughter.
His brother was grinning. “Welcome to the world of being boss. Handle it and make them accept it, Director Whitefox. You got this one, Cal.”
There was an audible sigh. “Okay, I’ll call in later and update you on the status.”
“Expect the team there in less than four hours. They’ll be rolling in on ATV’s so tell Julian to secure his horses if they aren’t already. Good luck, Callen!” Blackhawk hung up the phone.
Elizabeth didn’t say anything. She was waiting for her husband to tell her absolutely no, and then she’d start to argue with him.
“You know we can’t let him do this alone. He’s scared shitless,” Blackhawk admitted.
She shrugged. “I’m aware.” Could it really be this easy? Was keeping her mouth shut the way to get the men to concede, giving her what she wanted?
“Technically, Tori is already there and this could be her trial run. If you and I join them, we have our three agents that he requested.”
“I guess we could.” Elizabeth was getting excited, but keeping her face neutral. It was like she somehow discovered a new man secret. If she said nothing, miracles happened.
“He’s going to have his hands full with the council and an investigation,” Blackhawk continued. “He probably could use our help.”
“Yep.”
He was probably going to regret this, but he did it anyway. “Saddle up Tex. You and I are going in as his back up. Callen’s about to become our boss.”
Elizabeth was up and out of her seat so fast that he actually jumped. She ran at him and hopped up in his arms, leaving kisses all over his face. “I am so damn excited and so is the baby. We get a field trip back to Red River. I hope I see that jackwagon sheriff again.”
Already Blackhawk was having second thoughts. “Whoa, back that comment up for a second. You are not to provoke anyone into a fist fight, a gun fight, a knife fight, a verbal squabble, or a slap down. Am I clear?”
She laughed as he lowered her back to her feet. “Did you hear that EJ? We’re going on a field trip.” Then it hit her. “Can I drive the ATV through the woods?”
“Oh hell!” This was going to make him age ten more years, and it wasn’t even his child she was carrying.
Elizabeth grinned wickedly. “Come on, Cowboy. You need to procure us a house to stay in, and I’ll drive us home to get us packed.”
“You're enjoying this a little too much, Elizabeth.”
Then came the maniacal laughter. “Yeah I am. The only thing that’s going to be better is the look on Callen’s face when we roll on in on some bad ass ATV’s.”
“Oh boy.”
“Can we get one for the house? I can ride it to the mail box instead of walking. Then we can do donuts on the cul-de-sac.”
“God help us both,” Blackhawk muttered.
When he looked horrified, she merely slapped him on the ass as she walked to the door.
“Heaven can’t help you, Cowboy. Where we’re going is hell, and the devil likes to hang out with his serial killing buddies.”
He only wished she was kidding.
Callen hung up with his brother, feeling a bit overwhelmed. This was his first assignment in charge without them. He was already feeling the pressure on his shoulders. “Okay, we need to stay here and keep the scene secure. I’m going to call the council, apprising them of the situation. We have less than a dozen FBI agents rolling up on the scene shortly.”
“I’ll take the horses back to the house,” Tori offered. “I’ll wait there for the team to arrive, and I’ll come back in with them.”
Julian didn’t like that idea, and he didn’t like the idea of her sitting out in the opening where the killer could come back. “Okay, get my gun out of the cabinet when you come back, Honey.”
“Anything else?” she asked, grinning. Man, she wished she could work this assignment alongside the team again. Part of her was disappointed, but the rest was happy that Julian was taking a job, getting his life started back up again.
“No, but you hustle right home with Weeko and Wakanda, and you don’t stop for anyone, please.” Julian was nervous as hell at letting her ride out on her own.
Callen could see the fear in Julian’s face. “Here,” he said, dropping down to one knee and pulling up his pant leg. He took out his clutch piece and handed it to her.
Julian relaxed a little. His soldier girl could defend herself now, and that made him ease up on the nerves. “Hurry Honey! Stay in the house and don’t leave without the team, okay? Text me when you get there.”
Tori grinned and started walking away, tucking the gun into the back of her jeans. Suddenly, there was a yank on her arm and she was pulled back towards him.
“I love you,” he said, kissing her deeply. When he finally released Tori, she stared at him dumbfounded. “Get out of here quick,” he said, slapping her on the ass to move her along.
Julian followed her, watching to make sure she mounted the horse. When she kicked Weeko and tugged on Wakanda’s reins, they were off fast through the forest. It was then he prayed to himself that she make it back to his cabin safe.
Callen wandered up behind him. “You have it bad,” he said, grinning.
“Yeah, don’t I know it.” Julian just didn’t know what was going to happen in the end. Yes, he had her love, but their careers were both still up in the air, moving them in two different directions.
Whitefox could feel the tension rolling off his friend in waves. “It’ll all work out in the end.”
Julian didn't kn
ow what to say, but he was hoping the man was right. “You better call the council, but be prepared. This is going to piss them off. Chief Soaring Eagle hates outsiders.”
Whitefox was well aware of the aggression; the only difference was that he didn’t really have a choice. The man was going to have to play with the FBI.
At least Elizabeth was safe at home. If anyone could stir up a tribe of Natives, she could. That was Callen’s only consolation in the whole mess.
* * *
After the call to council, one thing was blatantly clear. They weren’t the least bit happy about it at all. The chief wanted the Rez police to handle the situation and keep it ‘in house’. Callen reassured him that the people brought in would be respectful and on their best behavior.
Great, it was just one more thing to worry about while he ran this assignment. He had to keep a bunch of non-natives from insulting the residents of the Rez.
“You don’t look so good,” stated Julian, observing his friend. He’d heard most of the call, and he understood the pressure was on Director Whitefox.
“Yeah, I don’t know how or why Elizabeth and Ethan like running these assignments. This is a type B personality’s worse nightmare.”
He laughed. “I can only imagine.”
“Come on Julian. We need to go guard that cave. I don’t want to be sitting out in the open like this. I think we need to blend in a little more.”
Julian followed him over to the opening, dragging the bramble back in front of it. “Okay, let’s make ourselves scarce until backup arrives.”
Whitefox was quiet for a while. “Have any cards in your pocket?”
Julian laughed. “Do I look like a magician?”
Callen shrugged. “I just figured you and Tori might get bored and play cards.”
That struck Julian funny. “Do you sit around playing Gin with Elizabeth in your spare time?”
He had a point. “Gotcha.”
“It’s going to be a long four hours,” Julian admitted.
“Yeah it is,” he answered, settling down into the brush, his back against Julian’s as they watched both directions. Now it was about not letting anyone sneak up on them, adding their corpses to the body count.
* * *
Pulling up in front of ‘Fort Blackhawk-Whitefox’, Elizabeth and Ethan hopped out of the Denali, walking hand in hand towards their house. The tech team was mobilizing and meeting at Julian’s cabin to head in all together. On the way home, Ethan called their boss and explained the situation and that the three directors were going to be out in the field together. At first he wasn’t happy, but when they informed him where the bodies were located, he understood.
Because they were a couple or triangle, they had to tread lightly when it came to the job. Yes, they were out of the ‘closet’, but they had to make sure that if they were on a job, and it was costing the tax payers, they could justify the expense. Three directors in the field was a hefty price tag.
Now that they were home, it was time to get their things packed and get moving. Callen needed his back up as soon as possible.
Opening the door, they walked in to hear giggling coming from their kitchen. Other than Elizabeth, when the men were chasing her around, giggling wasn’t the norm.
Ethan promptly covered his wife’s mouth, so she couldn’t warn Wyler as they came around the corner. Since finding out that their father had a thing for Bly Cocheta, the boys were enjoying busting his ass at every given opportunity.
They called it ‘operation pie baking’. The family had a private joke, using that as the euphemism for sex. Wyler knew what it meant, which only made it funnier to embarrass him.
Elizabeth started laughing, the sound muffled against his hand, as they moved into the kitchen. She fought valiantly to warn her father-in-law, but Ethan was bigger and more determined to have fun with it.
As they came around the corner, standing there was Wyler, his arms wrapped around the woman as she laughed.
“Hi Dad,” stated Blackhawk grinning, as his palm remained firmly secured over his wife’s mouth.
Elizabeth’s eyes began watering when the two adults jumped apart. She had to admit that it was funny to see them look so horrified.
“Ethan!” Wyler exclaimed going bright red. “I didn’t expect you both home.”
Blackhawk finally released his wife’s mouth. “I can see that, Dad. We’re on our way out into the field and needed to pack.”
Elizabeth crossed the kitchen and hugged Wyler. When he placed a kiss on her forehead, her heart flipped. The simple action always made her feel loved. Since her father was gone, Wyler had adopted her as his own. She cuddled into his embrace as he gently rubbed his grandson growing in her belly.
“Hi Bly, how’s it going?” Elizabeth inquired, grinning. The first few weeks with the woman were rough. From day one, the relationship was very rocky. Their housekeeper was a very stern woman who liked rigorous rules and being in control of the situation. The only problem was, it wasn’t her home. It was Elizabeth’s and this made it tumultuous between them.
Stubborn met stubborn in a showdown, and Elizabeth came out on top. In concession, she agreed to monitor the profanity, since it bothered the woman. In the spirit of trying to get along, Bly stopped rearranging her cabinets and setting up everything her way.
“It’s going well, Elizabeth. Are you hungry?” she asked, finally able to speak. “I can make you something to eat for the car.”
Ethan stood in the doorway grinning wickedly at his father. As a teenager, his grandfather always tried to catch him and Callen with girls. His father missed out on it, but he was going to enjoy this while he could.
Somehow it was poetic justice.
“Please pack her something, Bly. She needs to keep her blood sugar up. Elizabeth had an apple less than an hour ago.” Ethan wanted to make sure his wife was taken care of on the trip. “I also need to pack up some provisions. We’re heading to Red River to meet up with Callen. I rented a house, and we won’t have time to stop for food.”
The woman began whipping around the kitchen preparing some things for them to take with them. “I’ll have it ready in ten minutes, Ethan.”
Wyler followed them out of the kitchen, speaking in hushed tones. “I want to apologize,” he said, staring into his son’s face.
Ethan didn’t get it. “For what?”
“My behavior with Bly in your home.”
Elizabeth took his hand in hers and gently offered reassurance. It was obvious to her what was bothering her father-in-law. “Dad, we don’t have a problem with you having a relationship with Bly. You’re a grown man and deserve to enjoy life too.”
Blackhawk got it finally. “Dad, are you not with a woman because of us?” meaning his brother and himself.
Wyler wasn’t going to lie. “Yes.”
“Mom’s been gone a long time, Dad. You’re allowed to stop paying for that sin. I know Callen feels the same way. We don’t hold you responsible for what happened in our past. We forgave you and moved on already.”
Wyler thought about it. “I know I hurt you both.”
Blackhawk hugged his father. “You gave me a brother that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. If you didn’t sleep with Callen’s mom, he wouldn’t have been born. I wouldn’t have left the Rez and met Elizabeth.”
She picked up for her husband. “I wouldn’t have married into this amazing family and met Callen. I wouldn’t have had CJ and soon EJ. If fate didn’t lead you the way it did, none of this would have happened.”
Blackhawk grinned. “She likes you and you like her. Have at it, Dad.”
Wyler grinned. “Go pack. CJ is asleep in his crib.”
Elizabeth reached into her purse and pulled out her tablet. “Keep this here and later I’ll call to see him and you, Dad.” She patted his cheek and walked up the stairs to their room.
“I meant what I said, Dad. I forgive you and love you. This isn’t just our home. This is your place too.”
Wyler
watched his son follow his wife up the stairs. His heart was so full at that moment.
“Are you okay, Wyler?” Bly asked, coming to his side.
Out came the infamous Blackhawk family grin. “Yeah, I’m doing really well.”
She smiled up at him. “Want some tea?”
Wyler followed her into the kitchen. “Yeah, and I think I’m in the mood for some pie too.”
* * *
Julian and Callen sat side by side against a tree, watching the cave and bramble. It had to be the longest three hours of their lives. The sun was starting to get lower in the sky and there was nothing exciting about the prospect of being there in the dark with the dead corpses not far away.
Unfortunately, the team was going to have to do the retrieval after dark, and that generally took longer. Callen had already called the police chief of the Rez, informing him of the issues that had popped up. He immediately offered his staff of three to help out if Callen needed them. Whitefox accepted the offer, since he would be working out of the police station. It would give them a central location to have the ME and anthropologists do their jobs.
Julian tapped him on the shoulder. “So what were you working on here at the Rez before this?”
“I was mediating between Chief Soaring Eagle and Sheriff Duffy,” Callen stated.
“That had to be awkward since the last time you saw him you were punching the shit out of him for insulting Elizabeth.” Little moon couldn’t help but grin. He remembered it fondly. No one deserved it more than James Duffy.
“Yeah, well the man holds a grudge, as does that shrew of a secretary. I ran into her today too.” Whitefox was glad he was done babysitting, and now focused on ironically a less volatile assignment.
“What were you mediating?”
Whitefox pulled out a stick of gum and offered Julian a piece. “Someone outside the Rez swears that they saw a native sneaking onto a ranch, grabbing a sheep, and then slaughtering it.”
Darkness Of Truth (An FBI/Romance Thriller~ Book 6) Page 5