Consumed by Wrath: An FBI/Romance Thriller (An FBI/Romance Thriller ~ Book 8)

by Kelley, Morgan

The more she thought about him, the more she began to sob. What she wanted was reassurance that someone was going to get her husband back for her.

  Harper sat beside her on the floor and held her partner as she wept for her husband. It was horrible and heart wrenching to watch the woman suffer like this. This was why couples were frowned upon in the FBI.

  She would never allow herself to take this route. Who wanted to hear this kind of news, ever? No one should have to have their loved one taken by a serial killer. Watching her strong partner fall apart was making her want to cry too.

  “It’s okay, Cyra. We almost have him figured out. Director Blackhawk is working on it, and we know that she’s really good at this,” she said, hopefully.

  Where she wanted to go outside and rage at Elizabeth, she knew she couldn’t. When her husband was missing, they worked like maniacs to find him. Now, she had to believe that the woman, who was out there, loved her husband and would help bring him home.

  “You have to have faith,” Harper said, patting her reassuringly on the leg.

  “I do have faith,” she whispered. “It’s all that I have left, right now.”

  Elizabeth worked her way through the puzzle, ignoring everything around her. She heard Cyra return from the bathroom, but if she turned and looked at her, she would lose her focus.

  Staring at the first woman’s name, she tried to rationalize it. How do killers pick their victims? Money, love, and then…

  It hit her. The killer wouldn’t take her if he had been approved, he would take her out of revenge or anger.

  That’s why she died.

  Glancing over, she stared at Ethan. “He took Marjorie Willard because he wanted a booth. He isn’t in that pile. Who was the very last person approved?” she asked, as Ethan furiously flipped through the papers.

  “The last approval was two weeks ago, and it was,” he paused and looked up at his wife. “Justine Stephens.”

  Shit! There it was.

  Okay, that piece clicked into place. “I’m willing to bet that he killed her because he wanted her spot. I need you to call the mayor and get me all the rejections that Marjorie Willard signed off on. We don’t have time to transport them,” she said, glancing at her watch. “Have him get them and read you all the names.”

  He handed her the particulates report. “This just came in,” he said, handing it off to her as he began dialing.

  Elizabeth made the mistake of looking back at Cyra. “I’m sorry,” she said, trying to look away from the woman’s haunted eyes. She recognized them well enough.

  They were her eyes four months ago.

  Only then, they had twelve hours to save Ethan. Cyra’s husband had maybe two hours max.

  “Please find him. I’ll owe you my life and give you anything I have to get him back. Please don’t let him die on me,” she whispered, her voice breaking into a sob.

  Yeah, there was already enough pressure, but Elizabeth couldn’t blame Cyra. She couldn’t focus on what was at risk. For now, she needed to stay on the data.

  It was always in the information, you only needed to find it, extract it, and make it fit.

  For a brief second, she sent out a little prayer. It wasn’t lost on her that it was the second time in a week she offered one up. At this point, she’d do whatever she could to save a friend.

  And in a way, she’d be saving herself.

  * * *

  Chris Leonard’s head was pounding. He wanted to open his eyes, but in all honestly, he was scared shitless. He could feel his hands and legs restrained, and he could hear the methodical sharpening of the knife.

  There was no doubt what was going to happen. What he hoped was that he could figure out a way to escape, or at least defend himself.

  Maybe when this was done, he needed to get Elizabeth to take him back to the gym and teach him how to outsmart a serial killer.

  He must have slept through that lesson.

  “Come, come, Doctor. I can’t start until you wake up. I hope I didn't do too much damage to that brain of yours,” he said, easily.

  Chris slowed his breathing down and formulated his plan to buy the Blackhawks some time.

  As long as the man believed he was asleep, it meant he wasn’t going to be someone’s snack. He prepared for any trick the man might throw out to wake him, and stayed calm.

  For now, he had to have hope.

  Chris trusted the people he called family. They could figure this out. He had seen Elizabeth work bigger miracles in her years in the FBI, and this time, it meant his life or death.

  She could do it.

  Then, his mind drifted to the love of his life, and he fought to not let any tears build up in his eyes. One single tear would give him away.

  For now, he needed to be strong to get back to his wife.

  He had just got his Goddess, and he wasn’t ready to let her go quite yet.

  * * *

  She stared at the report as Ethan wrote all the names on the board. One by one, she studied them, trying to hear that click in her brain.

  Not one single one did it.

  Then finally, she saw it.

  “Wait!”

  Blackhawk paused. He was on his twentieth name, and his hope to see their ME alive again was dwindling. Nothing seemed to be matching up.

  She scanned the paper and closed her eyes as she made the ultimate choice. Elizabeth was throwing the dice and making a gamble.

  “Grab a tablet! We need to go!”

  Ethan followed his wife with Cyra and her partner close behind him. Racing outside, they headed for a vehicle. Now, they needed to haul ass.

  “Do you know where he is?” Cyra Leonard demanded, jumping into the Navigator.

  Elizabeth was behind the wheel. “I need to get his address,” she said, punching his name into the tablet. “I know who took him, and I know why,” she stated.

  “Who is it?” Ethan asked, as she entered the address in the GPS.

  “When you were writing the names on the board, there was only one that coincided with the particulate report,” she stated, pulling out of her driveway, driving like a maniac.

  “Who?” Cyra asked. “I need to know who took my husband!”

  “The tech team found a single particulate of pollen. It’s from a rare plant that is only found a few counties below us,” she said.

  “You’re basing this on pollen?” Harper said, a little worried that her boss was betting it all on something so trivial. “That’s it?”

  “Rarely are things a coincidence,” she replied, not willing to give the agent a lesson at that moment. Elizabeth kept driving as the GPS spit out the directions. “We have an awesome tech team, and they attached a picture of the flower.”

  Ethan took the tablet from her lap. “It’s a Dwarf-Flowered heartleaf?” he asked.

  “Scroll down,” she said.

  When he did, she could tell when he figured it out.

  “We saw this today.”

  “Yeah, we came across them when Barbara Harris was ripping them out of her yard. Xavier Jensen planted them. There could be only two people who could transfer those particulates. Since he had to plant them and touch them a while ago, that eliminates her. Then, once I saw his name on reject list for the Spring Fling, I knew.”

  Cyra prayed she was right. Never in her life had she wanted anything more than this. “If you’re right, I’m naming my first child after you,” she promised. “Even if it’s a boy.”

  Elizabeth looked at her in the mirror. “Then I hope for his sake, he can kick some ass, because I’m holding you to this, just to horrify Chris.”

  She tried to laugh as there was a tiny little spark of hope in her. “Please, help me get him back.”

  Blackhawk turned around. “This is her specialty. You can trust Elizabeth’s gut. We’re going to have to go in by foot, and do this quiet. If we scare Xavier, he’ll hurt Chris.” What he didn't say was if the man wasn’t already dead. He had been gone over ninety minutes. His life expectancy was
ticking away.

  “When I get my hands on your husband, I’m going to kick his ass for getting abducted,” Elizabeth said.

  Cyra placed her hand on her boss’s shoulder. “You’re going to have to take a number. I’m going to be doing it first,” she stated.

  Elizabeth laughed. “Suit up back there. We don’t have time to mess around. When we stop this car, we’re going in.”

  Blackhawk stared at his wife, and he didn't like the idea that she was going in without Kevlar, but she was right. They literally had minutes, and he trusted her to stay safe.

  What choice did he have? It was now one life at risk for another.

  It was shitty odds, all around.

  * * *

  The man slapped him incredibly hard, and it got him exactly what he wanted. Chris Leonard opened his eyes.

  “Now, you’ve been playing possum, Doctor. That’s not nice at all. I’ve been really patient the entire time.”

  Chris knew that he needed to stall him. “Yeah, well it’s not really nice to kill people and eat them either, if you want to be frank. Who the hell are you anyway, and why did you take me?”

  Xavier Jensen leaned against the wall and watched the man in his kitchen. “I’m just someone who is enjoying life, and trying to get people to see how good my recipes are.”

  “You're eating people, dude. No one is going to see that as a good thing,” Chris said, praying that his bosses were looking for him. “Again, why me?”

  “I took you, Doctor, because like the last ME, he was close to figuring it out. I have to buy some time to get rid of the rest of the meat.”

  “I don’t understand. I’m just a lab rat. My job is to cut open the bodies, and that’s it.” Chris didn't want to point the man at anyone else on his team, but he didn't want to die either.

  “You ME’s are really smart. It’s all that college and learning. See, I didn't graduate from high school. I was too busy trying to survive. I ran away young, and had to fend for myself.”

  “A hard life doesn’t mean you get to kill people,” he said, trying to rationalize with a crazy person.

  “No, but isn’t there a saying about survival of the fittest?”

  Chris was appalled. “That’s Darwinism, and I don’t think he was referring to people eating each other. He was referring to genetics, and one species overpowering a weaker one. I’m the same species as you.”

  The man shrugged. “Have you ever eaten human flesh, Doctor?”

  Chris stared at him. “I put my hands in dead bodies all day,” he answered. “I sometimes can’t stand to eat animals. Why would I want to eat people?”

  “It’s a rush. You get this feeling of power and you never feel the same again.”

  “It’s called a dopamine rush. Your body gives it off. It’s an illusion, and you can fight it and stop. It’s the equivalent to being addicted to something. Let me help you overcome this, and we’ll get you fixed up.” As he spoke, he subtly tried to move his arms and legs, to get a little wiggle room. He was hoping to get a limb free to fight for his life.

  He wasn’t going out easy. He had a wife and a new life to begin living.

  “I don’t want to give it up. Hey, do you think if I eat you, I’ll become as smart as you?”

  He stared at the man. “Yeah, that’s doubtful. You’re already three steps behind the learning curve.”

  “Well then, I guess we can start, Doctor. I don’t like to kill my food until I had a chance to look it in the eyes, tell it thank you, and set its soul free.”

  “How do you plan to do that?” he asked, not liking that idea at all. In fact, he hated the sound of it. He was very attached to his soul and the rest of his person.

  “By letting it bleed out,” he said, picking up his very sharp butcher knife, and staring at Chris’s leg.

  Well, shit.

  It looked like the next stop was the morgue.

  Yeah, good karma his ass.

  He stared the mad man in the eyes and sent out his last thoughts to his wife.

  ‘I love you, Cyra. I’m sorry you’ll have to live without me.’

  At least in his own way, he was able to say goodbye.

  * * *

  They pulled up outside and shut off the lights. Hopping out, they turned on the wireless coms and earpieces before moving towards the house.

  “Cyra, you get the door on the side, and Harper you take the back of the house. Ethan you have west side, and I have north.”

  They spread out, hoping that they wouldn’t be too late. In the vehicle, Ethan called Callen, giving him the directions, and warning him to come in silent.

  They couldn’t risk the doctor’s life.

  “The back of the house is clear,” stated Harper, moving silently thought the dark.

  “West side is clear,” Ethan said, praying that his wife would be okay.

  “Front of the house is clear,” Elizabeth answered.

  Now, they only needed Cyra.

  As she stared at the kitchen door, she saw the most horrible thing in her life. Her husband was bound to a table, with a knife wielding man standing over him. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but from the look on Chris’s face, it didn't look good.

  Suddenly, the man swung the knife down at her husband’s leg, and instinct kicked in, forcing her to pull the trigger.

  Time stopped all around her, as she could see the glass explode and the man look surprised as it hit him in the chest.

  It all sped back up, as the man hit the ground. Chris’s head turned towards her, as he squinted.

  “Christopher! Oh my God!” she shouted, her com still on. She raced in and reholstered her gun, throwing herself over his body.

  “Cyra sweetheart,” he said, struggling. “I’m bleeding. I need you to put pressure on my leg,” he muttered through clenched teeth and horrible pain.

  She stared down at the blood forming on his pants. “Oh Jesus!” She reached for him, only to scream as Xavier Jensen popped up and swung at them both with his meat cleaver.

  There was one more pop as the man took a bullet to the head, and fell once more.

  “That’s why you aim for the head, not the body,” Elizabeth said, holstering her gun and unbuckling her belt.

  “Lyzee, he nicked my femoral. You have very little time,” Chris said, trying to stay calm.

  “Oh God!” Cyra exclaimed, as everyone began rushing in.

  Elizabeth glanced up at her husband. “Ethan, call for an ambulance. NOW!”

  He pulled out his phone and began dialing.

  Slipping her belt around his upper thigh, Elizabeth tightened it to the point that Chris bowed in pain. Pulling the hole wider in his pants, she stared at the large gouge.

  “Okay, Doc. This is where you think back to ER medicine one-oh-one, and tell me how to save your life. That tourniquet will slow the blood down, but I need to stop it.”

  He tried to breathe through the pain. “Can you see the artery in the opening of the wound?”

  She nodded. “Yep. It’s not completely severed, but it’s not looking so good. The blood is bubbling out, and it’s about to tear.”

  Cyra wanted to throw up.

  “Good. You need to do this carefully. If that snaps, it’s going to recoil up into my body, and I’m dead in minutes. I need you to delicately pinch above the opening and don’t let go no matter what.”

  “Chris, this is going to hurt like a bitch, because I have to dig into the flesh.”

  “Yeah, if I pass out, then just keep holding that artery closed, or my wife is going to be a widow.”

  Yeah, once more, that didn't put the pressure on her at all. She prayed that she could stay calm under the stress. This was a matter of someone she cared about dying, or living.

  Cyra couldn’t move. She was literally scared stiff.

  Elizabeth needed her to focus, so she whistled. When the woman stared at her, she pointed at his arms and legs. “I’m going to be busy playing with the slippery artery. You need to get his
legs free in case we have to get out of here ASAP.”

  Cyra nodded and did what her boss told her to do.

  “Okay, on three, Doc. One, two…” She pinched right before to make sure that he didn't move or tighten up his thigh muscle. “Three.”

  Chris screamed in pain and the sound reverberated throughout the entire room. It was so loud that her husband came rushing back in, just in time to see his ME’s body bowing on the table.

  When he saw what Elizabeth was dealing with, he tried to help calm Cyra down. “There’s a helicopter coming, and Chris is going to be air evacuated out.”

  Elizabeth remained focused. “You’re going to have to handle the mess behind me, Ethan. It looks like since I’m the one holding onto this artery, I’m going for a little ride with my bloody friend here.”

  Holding her husband’s hand, Cyra stared at her boss. “Okay, I’m naming all our children after you. I’m training your dogs, and I’ll even come paint your toes, if you keep him alive. In fact, I have a spare organ or two that I’m not using.”

  Chris took Elizabeth’s free hand. “Please don’t let me die, Lyzee,” he said, his eyes filling with tears. “I just started living, and I can’t go yet. I need more time!”

  She focused on his face. “Remember when Ethan was missing, and you told me we would find him?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m not letting go, Chris. I’ve got you. This is me paying back a debt.”

  They saw the police lights and the helicopter landing in the yard. The paramedics rushed in to assess the situation. When they saw what was going on, they knew it was dire.

  “She’s got to come with us,” stated the one man. “She can’t let go. How long has his leg been without blood?”

  “Two minutes,” she said, glancing down at her red splattered watch.

  “I have plenty of time,” Chris stated, still clinging to his friend in hope that she would keep her word. He had no choice but to put his faith, hope and life in her hands. He didn't want to lose his leg, but if that’s what had to happen, he would take it over dying any day.