Tori raced towards Weeko and Julian’s pack. Grabbing the weapon, she did the only thing her heart would allow her to do. She gave chase, hoping the man didn’t get himself killed.
Losing him would be her demise.
* * *
Elizabeth followed Callen into the second part of the makeshift lab, as he hunted down Christina. What they really needed was something that gave them a clue where to take this entire investigation. All they had now were two skinless bodies, a council that wasn’t cooperating and a would be poacher.
“Christina, what do you have for us?” asked Callen, leaning against the counter with his hip, watching the woman carefully. Her eyes were darting from Ethan to him and back again, like she was in some sort of sexy Native American overload.
The woman carrying his child was obviously amused by the entire thing, because she was fighting to not laugh.
The lab tech managed to reign in her brain, focusing before Elizabeth kicked her ass into next month. “We found the normal things you would in a forest at the crime scene; sap, leaves, tree branches and white feathers.”
That caught their attention. “You found white feathers in the woods?”
Christina shook her head. “Not exactly in the woods per say. We found them beside the bodies in the cave. We aren’t sure if they were left there or some bird was molting. Right now, we have one being tested to find out the species. Once we have that, we can determine if the feathers were dropped or staged.”
Callen didn’t know if she was serious or not.
“Can I see the feathers?” Elizabeth asked, moving towards Christina. Something about white feathers beside a body just seemed too coincidental for the entire thing.
The tech pulled out the evidence bag, cutting it open for her boss. Pulling one of the two identical feathers out, she held them for Elizabeth until she gloved up.
“That looks like an eagle feather,” Elizabeth said, taking the one plume in her hand. The only reason she knew that was there was a warbonnet at home in their display case with the same feathers. It had been Timothy Blackhawk’s, and he had to earn everyone as a young man.
“It was lying on the ground?” asked Callen.
“Yes, beside the bodies.”
Ethan wasn’t getting a good feeling about any of this. “The feather in our culture is very important. An Eagle feather is the most important of all. It’s a treasure to be given one and revered. Like the American flag, you don’t let it touch the ground. That’s how sacred they are to us.”
“And we have a killer handing them out with each kill?” Callen questioned.
Elizabeth placed it back in the bag. “No trace on it?” she asked Christina.
“Nothing at all, Boss.”
Callen spoke up. “You need to earn a feather. You go off to battle and return, hunt for food for the tribe or…” he glanced over at his brother.
“Or what, Cal?” questioned Elizabeth, needing more insight into the native traditions.
“You killed your enemy,” finished Blackhawk. “He’s not leaving the feathers as a calling card. He’s leaving the feathers to tell us that he’s put down his enemies.”
Elizabeth really didn’t like this at all. Any one of the ‘outsiders’ in the FBI could be considered the enemy. “Christina, I want ID’s on these two victims by tomorrow morning. Am I clear?”
She nodded wide eyed.
Elizabeth began to get that panicky feeling in her gut. “I’m sorry Cal, but I need to step in on this one and take over temporarily,” she apologized.
“That’s okay, Lyzee. Have at it.” Relief flooded him, finally having an iota of peace since they’d found the bodies. He’d miss shit but Elizabeth wouldn’t.
She continued to instruct the tech team. “No non-native agent goes anywhere without a partner. If this killer lives on the Rez, who would be his most likely enemy?” she inquired, needing the insight from the only natives in the room.
“Anyone that isn’t full blood.”
Elizabeth moved back to the morgue portion of the basement. “Tony and Chris, we may have an issue. I want you both to stick together. You go NO WHERE alone. If we have a Native that’s going over the edge and killing outsiders, we’re all wearing a target on this Rez.”
That was the last thing Ethan or Callen wanted to hear. Their pregnant woman was an outsider and a possible victim too.
“You're going home,” ordered Callen, not risking her or the baby. “You’re just as at risk as Tony and Chris.”
There was no way in hell. “Newsflash for you there Cal, your brother is wearing a target too. Are you sending him home?”
Callen stared at his brother and both men’s cheeks twitched, knowing where she was heading with her comment.
“Ethan is half outsider and if the killer isn’t happy with anyone but blood, he’s just as big a target.”
Whitefox tried to swallow his fear, frustration and nerves. It wasn’t going to be easy. Now he had to worry about his brother and Elizabeth.
Then she remembered something about the team. “Oh crap! Julian and Tori are out on the trail alone!” Elizabeth exclaimed, pulling out her phone and dialing the tracker. All she could hope was they were safe and not in any danger.
* * *
Julian heard the footfalls running from him in the woods. Unfortunately, he didn’t get a good look at who was tracking them. His focus was on what was ahead of him, when he finally heard the sound behind him.
Whirling around, he watched Tori use the tree beside him for cover as she looked around the trunk. “Are you crazy,” he hissed at her, just as a bullet whizzed between both their trees.
Tori ignored him, focusing on the shadowy figure putting more space between them.
“I said get out of here, not follow me,” Julian continued, listening to the sounds of the forest and noticing it had gone oddly silent. Whoever was following them had disappeared.
Tori grinned at him, knowing it made him nuts. “I think the killer’s gone.”
He moved to her tree and grabbed her by the arm. “Victoria! I’m dead serious. You were supposed to go for help, not help me get shot! There’s a huge difference with those two options.”
She simply shrugged. “Julian, I was a soldier. We don’t run from danger, we run towards it.” Tori said, waiting for him to refute that one.
Julian did something he’d never done before. He lost his damn mind and started cursing in some language that Tori wouldn’t understand.
The laughter drew his attention. “You realize I can’t understand a word you’re saying, right?” she said, giggling.
They both jumped as Julian’s cell began ringing. “Hello?” he answered abruptly, when he saw the caller ID.
“Julian, get your asses out of the woods. It’s not safe. Meet us back at the police station on the Rez!” demanded Elizabeth.
Didn’t he know it? “Elizabeth, we’re kind of pinned down right now by someone shooting at us. As soon as I can get Tori to stop playing soldier, I’m riding out of here fast.”
“What!” Elizabeth’s blood pressure shot up exponentially at the idea her team was in danger.
“I’ll explain when we get there. I’m going to get us out of here, and talk to you later.” Julian actually hung up the phone. “Put yours on vibrate. We don’t need the killer tracking us by a cell phone ringer.”
Tori laughed. “Mine already is. Who goes into the forest to track and leaves the ringer on high?” she inquired, snickering. Yeah, busting his ass was a good time. Maybe it’d lighten his mood. “Let’s get back to the horses and hustle out of here.”
Julian watched her moving from tree to tree as cover. The woman was going to be the death of him yet. He followed her, making sure to keep scanning the area in case the person following them had looped around and was there again.
Back at the horses, Tori packed up their blanket and hopped up on Wakanda, ready to start back to his cabin.
“We’re not done discussing this, Victoria!�
� he stated, adamantly. “When I tell you to run, I don’t mean after me,” he added, hopping up on Weeko. Julian made a clicking nose and both horses began a quick gait back down the trail.
Tori saw no point in fighting with him. “Julian, I love you, but I am who I am. Born a soldier, raised a soldier to die a soldier.” It was the absolute truth and ingrained in her mind and soul.
“We’ll discuss this later. For now let’s just get out of the forest in one piece.” Julian kept her gun on his lap, finger on the trigger and ready.
She shrugged. “We can discuss it fifty years from now if you want, Julian. It is what it is.”
Great!
* * *
They sat in the small room being used as their office space above the morgue. The two men were watching Elizabeth pacing back and forth in the confined space. It was reminiscent of a tiger in a tiny cage on the prowl.
If either man thought they had a snowballs chance in hell to get her to go home, they’d try. Sadly, they knew the truth. She planned on sticking by their sides the entire time. If she suspected one of her men were in danger, she’d never leave.
“Are you going to be okay? Callen finally asked when his brain had finally overridden the intense fear growing in his gut.
“Yeah I’m fine. I think I need to go talk to Chief Longtree for a moment,” Elizabeth answered, walking to the door. “I’ll be right back.”
Both men waited until she was gone.
“How do we get her out of here?” Callen whispered, willing to do anything to assure his child was safe. That included conspiring behind her back and risking the wrath of hell.
Blackhawk laughed. “It’s never going to happen, Cal. You might as well just deal with it. She’s not going to walk away while either one of us is in potential danger.”
Now Callen began pacing in Elizabeth’s place. “I don’t want my son hurt!”
His brother could sympathize. The last time they were in Red River, he’d gotten the call she was trudging through snow, risking herself and his baby to save Callen. “You need to breathe in and relax.”
“That’s easy for you to say your son’s safe at home!” he raged, realizing what he just said. The look of pain flashed across his brother’s face, and then was gone almost instantly.
Ethan stood. “I’m going to get some coffee.” It wasn’t easy for him to say. None of this for the last three months had been anything but intensely painful and difficult. Watching his wife pregnant with another man’s child was soul crushing, regardless if it was his brother or not. For weeks he’d swallowed it, and he wouldn’t use it in a fight. It would only divide them as a family.
“Wait, Ethan! I’m so damn sorry!” Callen wished he’d kept his mouth shut. Hurting his brother was the last thing he wanted to do. When his brother didn’t even look back at him, there was that moment of fear as he watched him walk away from him.
It reminded him of once before in his life.
It was as if history was repeating itself. He watched Ethan’s back once again, as space was put between them.
Damn it!
Elizabeth knocked on the door to the chief of police’s office, only to have Rick motion her in as he was on a call. Trying to keep busy, she walked around the space, observing the man’s mementos. You could learn a great deal about a person, by what they held dear to their hearts. Stopping at a bookshelf, there were pictures of his family. Elizabeth was enamored by the little boy and girl smiling from behind the glass.
“Those are my two kids. The wife and I just recently divorced, and I don’t get to see them daily. It helps to keep pictures around the room,” Rick said.
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Elizabeth couldn’t imagine not seeing the men in her life or her children daily. Assignments always hurt and being away from CJ was crushing.
“I’m sure you didn’t come in here to talk personal life, so what can I do for you, Elizabeth?”
She took a seat and watched the man carefully. “I’m about to put you in a precarious situation and after you helped us out yesterday. I’m feeling pretty shitty about it.”
That caught him off-guard. “What exactly is about to happen?”
Elizabeth told him about the white eagle feathers and Julian being tracked in the forest. “I need to interview the poacher that the sketch artist drew.”
“Oh, yeah I can see why you think it’s going to be a shit-fest for me.” Rick was appreciative that the woman wasn’t going to drop kick him to the council wolves without a warning.
“How much trouble will you be in, if we go to his house?”
He shrugged. “A great deal of heat from Chief Soaring Eagle. I’m the one that gave you the identity.”
Elizabeth thought about it. “What if you gave him a heads up and emailed him back, telling him we were circulating the picture and found out his name?”
Rick thought about it. “You’d give me an out like that? Why?” He wasn’t expecting a Fed to be so…honorable.
“You threw me a bone, and now I’m protecting the hand that fed me. I need his address, and I need a twenty minute head start before you email your council to tell them I was heading there.”
He pulled out a piece of paper scribbled the address. “I’m going to tell them I saw no reason not to comply with the address, since you had correctly identified him.”
“You can tell them I smacked you around a little to get it,” she offered, grinning. “It builds up my street cred.”
The man laughed. “You’re an interesting one, Director Blackhawk.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment, Rick. Usually I’m told I’m difficult, bitchy, and mean.”
“People make rash decisions about people all the time. I like to make my own decisions.”
“I don’t blame you. That’s how we roll, but for the record, I’m all of the above.”
He laughed, sliding the paper across the desk. “Twenty minutes. It starts now.”
She grinned, taking the paper. Now it was time to grab the men and start the investigative fun.
Standing shoulder to shoulder with his brother, neither man spoke. The sentence Callen had uttered in anger had built a huge wall between them. If he could take them back, he would and in a heartbeat.
The flash of pain he’d seen in Ethan’s eyes broke his heart. The man he loved as much as Elizabeth was silently suffering, thanks to his stupidity. Once again, Callen screwed up and didn’t know how to fix it. “I’m sorry, Ethan. So damn sorry,” he apologized again. “I was angry and didn’t mean it. Please forgive me.”
Blackhawk didn’t speak. Right now his heart was aching. Maybe it was easy for him to say, but if his brother honestly believed he was callous enough to not care that his wife or Callen’s child were at risk, what kind of man did he take him for? Nothing about the last three months of his life had been anything more than excruciating. Every day ate away at him when he watched his brother reveling in the life of his child. Now Ethan was an outsider looking in and that wounded him.
“I don’t want to talk about it, Callen. Forget it. It’s not important.”
The chill in his brother’s voice was there and the icy fingers crawled into Callen’s chest and squeezed his heart. “Ethan, please.”
Just then, Elizabeth came around the corner. “Anyone want to go interrogate a suspect?” she asked, coming to a stop. Ethan’s face was blank, but his body was stiff. Callen looked scared shitless, and his eyes were filled with emotion.
“Uh oh. What happened?”
Blackhawk walked towards the door. “Nothing, so let’s go. After we get back to the lab, I need some time alone to get director things done.”
Callen’s stomach twisted, and he wanted to be sick. How fucking stupid could he possibly be? He may have just ruined their family with his anger and mouth.
“Okay Cowboy.” Elizabeth knew her husband. This was his typical defense mechanism when he was wounded. He went cold and retreated, protecting his heart. Something happened between the men in
her absence. Seriously? She was gone for less than ten minutes.
The three headed to the Denali, jumping in and snapping into seatbelts. Callen sat in the back, giving his brother space, hoping they could fix this. It wasn’t lost on him that during the drive, Elizabeth took Ethan’s hand in hers, trying to offer him reassurance. It was as if they had some unspoken ability to soothe the other person without saying a word. Normally she’d reach back and touch his leg, connecting the three of them.
Obviously, he was on her shit list now too.
Damn it!
Pulling up to the small rundown cabin, they all exited the vehicle. There were cars on blocks and abandoned toys all over the yard. At one time a family obviously lived there. While the destitute manner didn’t faze Ethan and Callen, it bothered Elizabeth. The three had very different childhoods growing up. Hers was filled with love, a big house and happiness. Theirs was filled with poverty and sadness.
“I’ll take the back,” Callen offered, trotting around the house to make sure the suspect didn’t escape.
Elizabeth and Ethan walked up onto the porch and knocked on the door, looking around. The house was in really bad shape, and she was having a hard time believing anyone was living there.
Then she heard it.
Wind chimes.
She focused on the ones hanging from the porch roof, and they weren’t moving but the sound continued. Then there was the wave of awareness, and Ethan must have sensed it too.
“Elizabeth, move!” he yelled, pulling her towards him at the last second, as the blast ripped past them. Both were caught off-guard as they toppled over the edge of the porch, landing with a thud on the concrete.
There were three more shot gun blasts.
Callen heard the sound of gunfire. Everything in him died as he raced around the side of the cabin to his family. There were two more shots hitting the house above him followed by silence.
Darkness Of Truth (An FBI/Romance Thriller~ Book 6) Page 11