“Elizabeth! Ethan!” he yelled, waiting for an answer. Crawling towards the porch, he found them. There was blood and two prone bodies. His woman was sprawled over his brother’s frame.
When she looked up at him, gun drawn he relaxed only marginally.
“Callen cover us,” she shouted, placing her gun on the ground as she patted her husband’s face. Then she saw the blood and began checking his body. “Come on, Ethan! Don’t do this to me!” she pleaded, checking him for bullet wounds. When she found none, her heart started beating again. The burn had begun in her arm, and she knew why.
It was her blood.
When Blackhawk moaned, her stomach stopped twisting in fear. Callen crawled over to them and flipped a picnic table to its side to offer them both a shield.
“Is he okay?” He couldn’t breathe as his brother lay motionless on the ground.
“I think he hit his head. We landed pretty hard on the concrete. He took the brunt of the force with his body.”
Callen stared at the blood soaking the sleeve of her shirt. “You’re shot!”
“I’m grazed on arm, or I cut it going over the rail. It’s fine,” she answered, stroking Ethan’s face. “Come on Cowboy. Open those sexy eyes of yours. I need you to wake up for me. We’re pinned here and need you to snap out of it.”
Ethan could hear his wife, as he struggled to fight his way through the fog. Damn his head hurt! Opening his eyes, he tried to focus on the two sets of eyes above him. One pair was icy blue and the other brown. Both sets were filled with nothing but worry and concern.
“What happened?” he mumbled, only to have his wife kiss him hard on the mouth.
“You scared the hell out of me!” she stated, keeping him still. “Don’t move! Anything broken?” she inquired, running her hands down his body.
“Nothing’s broken.”
“What happened?” questioned Callen.
“We were knocking on the door, and I heard wind chimes,” she said, running her fingers over Ethan’s ribs to make sure he wasn’t seriously hurt. “I looked up and there wasn’t any wind.”
Callen didn't get it.
“It’s a granddad thing,” she said, simply.
“I heard them too,” muttered Blackhawk, struggling to sit up. “Then I could feel something was off.”
“Your brother saved my damn life,” she whispered, kissing him again. “That gunshot would have hit me in the back if he didn’t grab me and pull me towards him.”
Callen should have felt better, but instead he was feeling worse. The man he had recently hurt with his words just saved Elizabeth and his child’s life. “We need to look at your arm, Lyzee,” Callen stated.
That grabbed Ethan’s attention. “You’re hurt?” he opened his eyes and finally noticed the blood. “Holy shit, you got shot!”
She started laughing, pushing up her sleeve. “I’m grazed and that’s it. We need to get back to the Denali and take Ethan to the ER.”
“I’m fine!” he stated, exuberantly. “But we do need to go get you looked at. You landed on top of me, and the baby was squished between us.”
Now Callen began panicking again. “Is the baby okay?”
Elizabeth could feel him moving. “He’s fine. I landed on Ethan’s lower body. There was room for EJ. We’re good.”
“I’ll drive us to the ER.” Callen wasn’t letting her out of it.
She shrugged, knowing how to win this war. “Okay, but then your brother is losing his gun and badge until he can be recertified. That’s twenty four hours, boys. I was grazed in my left arm, and I’ll be back out in the field in minutes after getting a bandage. ”
Both men looked at each other. They knew she had a point. Going to the ER meant one thing -official paperwork and one less armed person keeping her safe.
“Will you let Doctor Leonard check you both out?” Callen pleaded. It would be the best he could probably get at that moment.
“I will,” offered Elizabeth.
“Okay.” Ethan wasn’t happy about it, but he wasn’t willing to lose his badge and gun while a maniac was shooting at his wife.
Callen holstered his weapon. “I’m running for the Denali. I’ll pull it around; you both get in the back.” Before they could say anything, he was gone.
“You really okay?” asked Blackhawk, pulling her against his body and kissing her forehead. Automatically, his hand went to her belly.
“Yeah, thank you for saving us, Ethan.”
Suddenly, all the anger he’d been feeling had evaporated. He could have lost Elizabeth and his nephew in one shot. Sometimes things happened for a reason. They survived, and he had his perspective back again.
“Anything for you, Baby,” he whispered, his head pounding like three drums.
Callen pulled up beside the picnic table and the back door opened. “Let’s get the hell out of here,” he shouted, watching them climb in and tearing out of there like a maniac. Not because of the man that might be hiding in the woods, but because he wanted his family to be checked out by their ME.
Ironically, if his brother had been slower or off his game, the ME still would have been checking out Elizabeth.
Just in a body bag and at a crime scene.
Julian and Tori made it back to the cabin, stabled the horses and rushed to the police station to meet up with the rest of the team. They sat down in autopsy with the two doctors, listening to the update on the victims.
When they heard the voices coming down the hall they both looked over at the door and their mouths hung open.
“Oh my God!” Tori exclaimed, staring at the state of the three of them. “What happened?”
Elizabeth hopped up on the table and immediately Doctor Leonard was at her side. “I need you to check the baby, my arm and Ethan’s head. I think he has a concussion.”
“Whoa! We need an explanation on this one,” Chris said, digging for a stethoscope in his bag.
She laid back, sucking up the audience as she lifted her shirt. “We went to talk to the ‘poacher’ suspect and someone took shots at us from the trees. Ethan and I took a header off the porch onto the concrete.”
“You landed on the baby?” Chris questioned, listening through his stethoscope.
“No, Ethan landed on the bottom and took all the weight. The baby was tucked between us.” Elizabeth was worried about her child, or she wouldn’t be sitting here getting herself checked out.
“Do you feel any movement inside?”
“Yeah, he’s pissed and stirred up like a hornets nest.”
Chris pressed on her bump and felt around for the baby. “He’s right here,” he said, touching her stomach above her bellybutton.
Tony Magnus spoke up. “Maybe you should let the father feel,” he offered, trying to get the men to make some motion to give away what he was dying to know.
When they didn’t move, he cursed at being foiled again.
Elizabeth grinned. “Goodbye Tony!” she booted him out of the room.
The man objected. “Why does Julian get to stay while you take off your shirt?”
“Because Julian isn’t trying to find out who the baby daddy is to win the office pool, and if he turns around and looks, Tori is going to kick his ass.”
“Yes, I am.” Tori reiterated.
Tony muttered, slamming the door behind him.
Chris looked down at her face. “Do you want the father to feel him?” he offered, nodding over to the men.
“I trust Julian and Tori,” she said, glancing over at Callen. “Want to feel your son, Cal?” Elizabeth offered.
Immediately, he was at her side. Chris took his hand in his and pressed on her stomach in just the right spot, until his eyes lit up.
“That’s my boy?” His eyes filled with tears and they threatened to fall at any moment. “Ethan, come here and feel this,” he whispered, enthralled by the feel of the little life beneath her skin. At first, he didn’t think his brother would join them, but he did.
Chris took his
hand and pressed in another location. “There’s the baby.”
Even Ethan’s eyes filled with emotion. Some of it was because it wasn’t his child, but mostly because he was already in love with little EJ.
Julian and Tori watched the three of them grinning. Honestly, she expected Ethan to be the father of the child, but now they saw it didn’t really matter. The love on his face said it all.
The baby was just as much his.
“Okay, now Ethan on the other table and lay flat. I’m going to check you next. Elizabeth take off your shirt.”
“Please check Ethan first. It’s just a flesh wound. He hit his head pretty damn hard.” Elizabeth was worried about him.
Chris did what she asked, simply because she wouldn’t stop nagging until he did it. With a light, he shined it in his eyes. “Did he black out?”
“He was out for about two minutes,” she offered, getting a dirty look from her husband. “Sucks doesn’t it?” she said, laughing at him. It was usually her that was getting ratted out to the ME.
Doctor Leonard had little choice. “You know I’m not supposed to let you back out in the field for twenty four hours, Ethan,” he added, feeling his head and finding a lump on the back.
“I’ll willingly stay in.”
“What?” Elizabeth nearly fell off the table.
“Unlike you, Lyzee, I’m willing to admit when I’m injured. My head is killing me,” he said, closing his eyes.
“I’ll give you some pain killers, and then you can crash in the office for a while,” Chris offered.
She stared at him open mouthed. “Are you okay, Ethan?” Now she was crossing to him and staring down into his eyes, nothing but concern on her face.
“What’s left to do today?”
“I was going to swing by the sheriff’s office and find out if there were any missing person’s reports, and then head out for something to eat. I have to feed the baby.”
He glanced over at his brother. “Make sure she’s safe.”
Callen nodded, feeling guilty that his brother was once more putting space between them. “I’ll drive her back to the house to get her a change of clothes.”
“There’s some in the Denali. I keep spares, because she’s a menace to clothing and men.”
“You have spare men in the Denali for me? Ethan, that’s so sweet of you,” she replied, grinning. Before he could comment back, she leaned down and kissed him long and slow. Breaking away the laughter started. “Wow, this is how it feels to be the one standing over the person being kissed in autopsy. Today’s just a really bizarre day.”
Ethan laughed as his heart lightening a little bit. “Look at her arm, Doc.” He took the pain killer and closed his eyes trying to block out the light and the sound.
Chris followed her over. “Off with the shirt, Lyzee.”
Julian turned around and stared over at Tori. “Hey, she gets to watch?”
The woman laughed. “I saw her getting all strippered up, this is nothing.” She winked at her friend.
Ethan continued with his eyes closed, but ready to tease Julian and Callen. “Tori was also making out with her yesterday when she was given her gun back. I got to watch.”
“What?” stated Julian, incredulously.
“That was some kiss, Tori,” Elizabeth teased.
Tori was laughing, because she could see Julian’s face. “My first girl kiss. I’ll never forget it.”
Callen began cursing. “Damn it! You didn't take a picture?”
Elizabeth laughed, until Chris poked the wound. “Hey! That hurt!”
Chris grinned. “You lucked out. It’s barely a flesh wound and all you need a gauze pad and some tape. I’m going to start carrying a full medical kit for you and your entourage.”
“Welcome to my world,” muttered Blackhawk.
“Uh, newsflash Love Bug, but he meant you too,” she said, laughing at the smirk on his face. “Tori, what happened out in the woods?” she inquired, as Doctor Leonard moved back to her side to begin patching her up.
The woman slipped effortlessly into work mode. Agent Christensen spilled it all. She described in detail what she saw, heard and smelled in the forest.
“Did you find any white eagle feathers?” Callen asked.
Julian turned surprised and then realized what he did, quickly closing his eyes. “Shit! Sorry, I forgot!”
Tori punched him in the arm hard. “That’s your warning shot, Jules!”
He grinned, not only that she was going to kick his ass or try, but that she’d used his nickname his family used. It warmed his heart. “Why white feathers?”
Elizabeth told them about the evidence found beside the corpses and what they suspected.
Julian started thinking about it. There was a little piece of what she was saying that bothered him. It was almost like he remembered hearing something before about white feathers, but he couldn’t make the connection.
Blackhawk muttered from the table. “Elizabeth, take Tori with you to the sheriff’s office. I think we should get a neutral opinion of the man. She’s the only one that hasn’t run into him before. Julian, I have a little side job for you. I’ll break it down for you when they head out, if you’re interested.”
Julian didn’t want to leave Tori’s side, especially now that they suspected the killer was after non-natives, but she was going to be with Callen and Elizabeth. “I’m in.”
“We need to tell the chief of police what’s going on,” stated Elizabeth. “I also just want to throw this out there, but he gave me the poacher’s name and address, and I gave him twenty minutes to email the council. He knew where we were heading before we got there.”
Julian shook his head. “I grew up with Rick, he’s a good man. If you’re suggesting he somehow sabotaged you then you’re way off, Elizabeth.
She shook his head. “I’m not accusing him of anything; I’m simply stating a fact. He was the only one that knew we were going there, and then we get ambushed. Maybe the poacher was lucky and heard us coming, but I have to put the facts out there.”
Whether he liked it or not, he completely understood that it was her job to be suspicious.
Elizabeth buttoned up her shirt. “Okay, Tori, Callen and I are going upstairs and then to Red River to deal with the sheriff. We’ll check in. Julian be safe on your side mission and Ethan please rest.”
Again he gave a barely audible answer.
The three left the room and Chris Leonard walked over to his boss, because something wasn’t sitting right with him. His eyes weren’t dilated, and he didn't think he had a concussion, but maybe he was wrong. “If you’re hurting that bad, you should see a doctor, but I’m not sure what for exactly.”
Blackhawk sat up, laughing. “I needed her out of here and to be able to work alone.”
Chris shook his head, knowing this was going to get damn ugly. Ethan was baiting a big, mean, pregnant tiger and now they were all pulled into his web of deceit. “You know I’m supposed to pull your weapon.”
Blackhawk lifted a brow. “You want that fancy piece of lab equipment you really don’t need but requisitioned anyway?”
The look on his face said it all. Chris was appalled. “You’re going to blackmail me?”
“Pretty much that’s my plan.”
“You’re worse than Lyzee,” he admonished.
That idea made Ethan laugh. “Yeah, I’m well aware. I’m not afraid to play dirty, Doc. You said it yourself. You can’t tell if there’s something wrong with me, so why pull my gun.”
The man shook his head. “She’s going to be pissed. If Lyzee confronts me, I’m more afraid of her.”
“Do we have a deal?” Ethan waited. “If she confronts you, toss me under the bus. I’ll be fine.”
Reluctantly, Chris offered his hand. “Deal, but I get my lab equipment, AND you don’t let her fire me.”
He agreed.
Julian stood there witnessing it all, knowing one way or another that he was going to get caught in the blow
back of it all. “What’s my side assignment?” inquired Julian.
“We’re going out to the poacher’s house to look around a second time.”
Littlemoon stared at him incredulously. “The two corpses aren’t the only ones going to be missing a hide when this is over.”
Blackhawk grinned. “They don’t call me Cowboy for nothing,” he stated, hopping down off the table.
“Ethan, when are you going to learn?”
~ Chapter Five ~
Wednesday Afternoon
When they strolled into his office so nonchalantly, he wasn’t quite sure what to think. The female was a mess and had blood on her shirt. The man looked disheveled himself, with grass stains on his white polo. The only one that didn’t look like they rolled down a hill was the other woman, whom he never met before.
“Rick, we have a big issue,” started Elizabeth crossing her arms over her chest. “It seems that while we were out at William Boyd’s homestead, someone got a bit bitchy and took shots at us.”
He looked surprised. “Are you okay?” he pointed at her shirt sleeve and the less than innocuous splattering of blood.
“Ethan and I were almost killed. He’s down in autopsy with a concussion, and I have a big ol’ case of freaking irate going on right now,” she drawled, the southern coming out.
“You better sit down,” he said, standing and motioning to his spare chair. Do you need me to get you a doctor?” Rick was concerned about the pregnant woman.
“No, I had the ME check me out. But I need to know how the hell William Boyd knew we were coming. You and I just had the conversation, and you gave me twenty minutes to get there before sending the email. It only took us seven.”
He knew what she was implying. “If you think I tipped off Boyd to give him a heads up, you’re out of your damn mind. I don’t screw with the Feds. I’m between a rock and a mountain here, Director.”
Elizabeth watched his face. “I believe you.”
The man stared at her, unsure if she was being serious or yanking his chain. “How do you know that I’m not bullshitting you?”
She shrugged. “I’ve been doing this a long time. Eleven years in the FBI and law enforcement. I can tell when someone’s lying their ass off. That’s why I came at you fast. I didn’t want to give you time to think about it.”
Darkness Of Truth (An FBI/Romance Thriller~ Book 6) Page 12