Julian considered it. “Chances are it happened. You know the life on the Rez is tough. Stealing to feed the family isn’t exactly an oddity.”
Didn’t Callen know that for certain? He remembered growing up poor and hungry. Many nights he went to bed starving, contemplating theft to survive, and that was at a young age too. He could only imagine what he’d do to feed his kids if need be. There’d be no limits. “The issue is the council doesn’t want to cooperate. I called in a sketch artist to draw the suspect, and Sheriff Duffy is getting all pissy due to the lack of cooperation.”
“Is Chief Soaring Eagle giving you a hard time?”
Callen laughed at the absurdity of it all. “He swears it’s a skinwalker doing the poaching.”
Julian didn’t find it very funny. “My father swore he saw a skinwalker once.”
“Julian, you can’t tell me you believe in that bullshit. It’s a myth. There’s no scary monster out there that’s stealing power and the energies from animals it slaughters. Man is the evilest thing in these woods.”
He thought about it. “All I know is my father was adamant about seeing one following him in a bear skin. I remember that being the final thing he ever told us kids. Then he died in a hunting accident shortly afterwards.”
“I’m sorry you lost your dad, but there is no such thing as a skinwalker.”
Julian thought about it. “Hey Callen.”
“Yeah?”
“I probably shouldn’t point this out right now, but we’re sitting outside a cave at dusk with two skinless corpses. Don’t you find that a tad bit ironic or at least coincidental?”
Callen blanched. “Thanks Julian,” he said. “I’ve already thought about it, but I was trying to not dwell on it for obvious reasons.”
The man laughed. “Sorry, my bad.”
* * *
The crunch of tires in the driveway brought her racing towards the window. Outside there were two tech vans, Denali’s and a bunch of ATV’s being offloaded from trailers. It looked like the cavalry was rolling onto the Rez and ready to go.
Tori exited the cabin, carrying the gun that Julian wanted over her shoulder. “Hey guys,” she shouted, drawing Elizabeth’s attention. When the woman turned around it was hard to not notice the baby bump and how pale and exhausted she looked. “Wow, someone is growing a child!”
Elizabeth laughed. “Yeah I am! How are you feeling, Tori?” she asked, hugging her friend.
“Not bad. I miss working, but at least I get to watch you guys in action.” Tori was trying to not be distraught. Her job mattered a great deal, especially using her mind to solving things. Although, truth be told, Julian meant far more to her in the grand scheme.
Ethan sauntered over, grinning. “You tell her yet?” he inquired.
“I was just about to,” answered Elizabeth, holding out Tori’s gun and badge. “You want to work for a while in the field? We’ll call it your test to see if you’re ready to come back full time.”
It was like Christmas morning for Tori. “Hell yeah I do!” She grabbed the badge and gun and actually kissed them both before putting them on her hip. Then she shrugged. “Screw it!” Tori hugged and kissed Elizabeth square on the lips and then repeated it with Ethan. “I’m so damn excited!”
Elizabeth laughed. “Callen’s going to be so sorry he missed this.”
“Yeah, he will and Julian’s going to go insane,” Blackhawk added, grinning. “I’m so going to bust his ass that I was kissed by his feisty girl.”
Both women laughed.
Ethan got down to business. “Can you lead us in, Tori?”
“I certainly can. We can access the trail through the paddock or around the back. I’d prefer to keep the ATV’s away from the horses. I don’t want to spook them.”
Elizabeth wandered over to the gate to look at the two mares. “I love riding horses.”
“Not happening.” Blackhawk immediately threw that out there, just in case she was contemplating it. “Callen is already going to stroke out once he sees you here. You on Julian’s horses will put him in a coma. We need him to manage the Natives, or I have to do it.”
Elizabeth laughed. “Okay, I promise no horses until after I give birth.”
Ethan was extremely happy that he’d gotten his way on this one. Slapping her on the ass, he winked at her. “It’s so nice to see you being agreeable. It’s like a miracle. This child has made you almost easy going and manageable.”
Elizabeth lifted a brow, contemplating his words. Oh, she’d show him a thing or two yet. “Are we ready to head into the woods?”
Turning around, Blackhawk yelled to his team. “Everyone doubles up on a quad. Ride carefully and slow. We go in and pull out the bodies. It’s a night retrieval, and we can’t bring in tons of lights, so bring something portable.”
Elizabeth took Julian’s gun from Tori’s shoulder. “Watch this,” she whispered. “I’m riding shotgun with Agent Christensen.”
Ethan didn’t look pleased. His plan was to place Elizabeth protectively in front of him. His concern was the baby. At six months pregnant, he didn’t want her falling off and getting either one of them hurt.
“Hey Christina, Director Blackhawk needs an ATV partner. Why don’t you saddle up and keep him company?”
Her husband flushed bright red and appeared mortified. “Elizabeth!” he hissed, knowing she just threw him under the lecherous Christina bus.
She winked. “That’s for calling me agreeable and letting down your guard. I took it easy on you this time. Next time be careful, who the hell knows what I’m capable of doing in my overly manageable state.”
Ethan Blackhawk stared as his wife, as she hopped on the back of the quad, blowing him a kiss over her shoulder. “Load up and let’s get in and get back out!” he yelled, preparing to race after his pregnant wife.
Christina climbed onto the back of the quad and sat incredibly close to her boss. This was like the best day of her life. Later she was going to walk up to Elizabeth and give her the biggest kiss of her life.
“Hold on, Christina,” muttered Blackhawk.
“Oh, don’t worry, Boss. I certainly will.”
When he caught her, he may kill his wife.
Callen heard the engines before he saw the headlights. “Looks like we finally have company, Julian. I think the team just rolled into town.”
Both men exited their stakeout positions and moved towards the trail. Heading up the caravan of ATV’s was Tori. When she came to a stop, another passenger hopped off, caring a gun.
Callen couldn’t believe his eyes. “Elizabeth?” he stood staring at his pregnant woman crossing the path towards him. “What are you doing here?” he asked, taking her by the arm and leading her as far away from the cave as possible. Pulling her behind a tree, he stared down into her eyes. “You shouldn’t be here with him.” Whitefox pointed to her belly.
“Yeah, the funny thing about that is I couldn’t figure out how to leave him at home with his brother,” she answered, grinning.
Obviously, she caught him off guard with her response.
“I missed you, Lyzee.”
Her fingers slid lovingly down his cheek, tracing his strong jaw, almost memorizing it.
It had been four long days without kissing our touching the mother of his unborn child. Quickly, he glanced over his shoulder and found his brother directing the team. “God Angel,” he whispered, pulling her into his arms and taking her mouth with a vengeance. His Elizabeth tasted like heaven, as their lips met and plundered, becoming reacquainted with everything he’d missed while away. When he pulled away, she smiled serenely up at him.
“We missed you too, my love.”
His heart flipped in his chest at the use of the term. Dropping to his knees, he placed his hand and mouth beside the baby bump, whispering to his child growing deep within. “I missed you son. Daddy’s here now. I’ll keep you and mommy safe.”
Elizabeth ran her hands over his hair and smiled at how loving Callen was
towards their child. Yeah, he’d make an excellent father, just like his brother.
“We should go see Ethan, or the tech team will start talking. Although, before leaving Julian’s, I bought us some time,” Elizabeth whispered, taking his hand in hers momentarily.
“How?”
She pointed at Christina. Her husband’s tech supreme was walking around the clearing but staring at Ethan. “I let her ride in with the boss man. She was wrapped around his back.”
Callen offered her a fist bump. “God, I love a sadistic, evil woman that gets off on torturing people. It’s so damn sexy and gets me all hot and bothered.”
Elizabeth snickered. “It’s a good thing, huh?”
Blackhawk wandered over to his wife and Callen. He threw his arms around his younger brother, genuinely glad to see him. “I missed you, Cal.”
“I missed you both too, but what the hell are you thinking bringing her out into the field six months pregnant?” Callen raged, finally saying out loud what was bouncing in his head.
Blackhawk laughed. “You know how she is. You try stopping Tex. She’s got a mind of her own.”
The female Blackhawk interjected. “Uh boys, TEX is standing right here, and she’s packing heat,” she replied, patting her Glock. “It would be a shame if in some hormonal rampage I shot you both in your very fine native derrières.”
Both men ignored her threat. If anything, they were accustomed to her promise of violence, with zero follow through. “Walk me through the scene, Cal.”
Whitefox led them over to the bramble, slipping on a pair of latex gloves, before pulling the shrub out from the opening. Immediately, the stench of dead wafted up towards them.
“Holy disgustingness,” muttered Elizabeth, feeling the need to retch as she backed up. This pregnancy was running her through the ringer. Baby didn’t like the smell of meat, cooking flesh or now decay. Then again, she really couldn’t blame little EJ on any of that, with the exception of the meat thing.
No one enjoyed the process of death.
“Hello there everyone and how are we all today?” cheerfully greeted Doctor Chris Leonard, as he pulled on his own gloves.
She took that back. There were a few people that enjoyed death, and her ME was one of them. The man was working in the right field.
“Chris, can we get them pulled out as soon as possible?” inquired Blackhawk. “I don’t like us sitting out here in the shadows while the killer could be out there observing us.”
“Give me a moment, Boss.” Doctor Leonard squeezed past them and into the cave to check it out, before giving him the answer. It would all depend on the state of the bodies. Taking off his stationary light, he placed it not far from the corpses. It would give him enough illumination to work with for now. Pulling out his flashlight he moved even closer to the skinless men, searching for trace.
Approvingly, he noticed that the killer had definitely done a good job of removing their skin. Searching for wounds, he slid over as Doctor Tony Magnus entered, mimicking his actions.
“Wow, this one’s new. I don’t think we’ve ever worked one where a maniac was skinning his victims,” he threw out there, grinning.
Chris pointed to the side. “Bones are over there.” Pulling out his chart he started marking off a few things, and then he grabbed the camera to begin taking pictures. Once done, he backed out of the space and handed it to Elizabeth. He knew she was still having issues with certain smells, but would want to see what was happening in the cave.
“Thanks Chris, you’re a lifesaver!” Elizabeth held the equipment so both men could see the scene with her, as her ME went back to work.
“Shit, I really hope those people were dead or that had to be excruciating,” muttered Whitefox. Immediately, he moved closer towards Elizabeth in a manner of protectiveness.
“Doc, how did he die?” Elizabeth shouted back into the cave after her ME.
“When I get him back to the bright lights, you’ll have your answer, Director.”
That was pretty much how it was going to be. Even though the directors liked the answers fast, the ME and Anthro doctors didn’t like to make speculative guesses on scene. Instead of pushing it, Elizabeth did something that was an aberration for her. “Okay, then we’ll discuss this there.”
Both men glanced over, lifting a brow.
“That’s it?” Blackhawk was more than a little surprised at her easy cooperativeness. “You’re not going to nag, pressure, or bitch at them.”
Whitefox touched her forehead. “Are you feeling okay?”
She laughed. “I’m perfectly fine. I’m not pressuring them for two reasons boys. One, I’m not too happy about being out here in the dark, and two- this isn’t my rodeo. We passed this one off to Callen. I’m simply an agent and here to evaluate if he goes off track. If he starts to screw this up or it gets over his head, then I’ll step in and reel him back under control.”
“Uh, let me introduce myself. I’m the one you’re talking about and I’m in your presence,” Whitefox said, waving at them.
Blackhawk snickered. “Good point.”
Julian and Tori wandered over together. It was fairly obvious that everything between them was far better than the last time the directors had seen them as a couple. Julian had his arm around her back, hand resting possessively on her hip.
Elizabeth stared up at Callen. “We’ve had everything you wanted transported here. You have your three agents,” she pointed at herself, Ethan and Tori. “There are your techs, your doctors, and equipment. Now what, Boss man?”
Julian tensed at the news. “Victoria, you’re back on duty?”
She grinned and pointed at her Glock, pulling her badge out of her back pocket. “Isn’t it the shiniest and greatest badge ever? I almost want to go off with it and whisper loving words to it all night long.” This time Tori ran her thumb over the gold badge and sighed. “I missed you, lover.”
Elizabeth started laughing at her antics. “Yeah, Tori is getting a field test. If she passes, then she’s back on duty.”
Julian went completely silent. It looked like the big pink elephant in the room was now getting ready to stampede. Here came the only barrier between them and happily ever after. “Great. I’m happy for you, Honey.”
Elizabeth lifted a brow. That was a big ol’ fib, if she’d ever heard one before. Maybe everything wasn’t peachy keen in paradise after all.
Blackhawk grabbed their attention. “Run the scene, Callen.”
The man had seen his brother and Elizabeth do it more than enough times to understand to how manage it. First step was to get all the trace done before they pulled out of there.
Elizabeth whistled for him. It stopped Christina and her techs in their spots.
“Bag it all up ASAP. I want us out of here in less than ninety minutes. I have the police station aware we’re coming. The bodies can be housed there in their basement. The chief of reservation police has given us space to work, and there’s room for a make shift lab too,” Callen said, pushing the team hard. The techs began hustling. Normally Elizabeth gave them two hours, but now they were even more under the gun.
There were some mock salutes, as the team began scattering.
“Julian, you take the perimeter. I want to know where the killer came from. Track his movements for me. Take Agent Christensen with you as your back up,” Callen continued.
Elizabeth handed him his rifle. “Be careful.”
Tori grabbed a spare camera from the ME’s kit sitting outside the cave. “I’ll document everything.” God! It was good to be using her mind again. She followed Julian through the clearing to the spot he was focusing all his attention.
Blackhawk scanned the area, searching for anything that might jump out and try to catch them off guard. Instinctually, he slid his body closer to his wife.
“Talk us through it, Cal.” Elizabeth pulled out her phone and waited for him to give her details.
The man was about to discuss the assignment’s correlation to the
bodies showing up, when there was a disturbance off to their right. Two men walked into the clearing and every agent with a gun pulled it.
“Director Whitefox! What’s the meaning of this?” raged Chief Soaring Eagle. “You said that the FBI would be respectful of our land. This looks very intrusive!”
Callen fought hard to not step in front of Elizabeth. If he did, she’d be pissed and that was one more issue to deal with later.
“Who the hell is this and why are they on the crime scene?” Elizabeth questioned. Old habits die hard, and she wanted to boot some native ass back behind the tree line.
Both men stared at her disapprovingly. This was exactly what they meant. Here stood another outsider crossing the boundaries of respect.
Whitefox went into work mode and tried to sooth the man’s ruffled feathers. “Chief Soaring Eagle and Shaman Tallman, these are my partners; Directors Ethan and Elizabeth Blackhawk, and they’re here to help assess the situation and figure out who left the bodies.”
The taller man stared at Elizabeth, looking very unimpressed. “An outsider,” and then his gaze flickered towards Blackhawk, “and a half-breed?”
It was all it took.
“Oh look, a jackwagon and an ignoramus.” Elizabeth stated, in retort. Nothing pissed her off more than people disparaging her husband and family.
Both reservation men stared down at her in disdain.
Elizabeth was about to tear them both new ones, but Ethan placed his hand on her shoulder, trying to warn her. It wouldn’t hurt them, but it would make Callen’s job more difficult. There was a time for battle, and this wasn’t it.
“I assure you, Chief that the team here isn’t new to working on Native land. They’re respectful of our culture and will work hard to find who did this.” Callen was grateful Elizabeth didn’t go shit nuts on them, like she normally would.
At this point he’d take the small miracles.
The men didn’t look pleased either way. “We wish to see the remains.”
Elizabeth almost said something, but again, her husband squeezed her shoulder. It wasn’t going to be easy to not run this one. Everything in her was telling her to flip both men off, telling them to pound sand.
Darkness Of Truth (An FBI/Romance Thriller~ Book 6) Page 6