Choices will Destroy (An FBI Romance Thriller Book 14) (15 page)

This was up to Elizabeth. Her neck was on the chopping block. If she spilled it, she was ultimately the one going to pay for it.

“Well, how mad would you be if I told you we lied?”

“About what?”

“Oracle.”

“What about her?”

“She’s very much alive.”

His mouth actually dropped open. “WHAT?”

She laughed. “Yeah, I forgot to put that in my report. My bad. I hope you can forgive me.”

He stared at Ethan. “Seriously?”

“Yep.”

“Elizabeth Renee LaRue Blackhawk,” he muttered.

“You forgot Whitefox. I get all tingly when you throw down my name like that.”

Livy laughed. She could see her husband going red, but she loved it. This reminded her of what they used to have. This was their unit.

Their team.

“POTUS wanted to tar and feather me for losing her! He thinks she’s dead!”

“He needed to think that. Now Avalon is free. That was the end of it. From here on out, you’re in the same boat as me. I had to choose between people I love or my country. It sucked three ways to Sunday.”

He made some frustrated sound as he ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

“Jesus.”

“Well, whose side are you on?” Ethan asked. “We are trusting you with something huge. Are you going to rat us out to the President of the United States?”

Gabe sighed as he pulled into the dead man’s driveway. “I’m not ratting you out. I’m on your side, and I’ve always been there. Although, I’m glad you didn't tell me. Lying to POTUS would have been hard. He’s excellent at sniffing out BS. Who else knows?”

“We’ve kept it close to the vest,” she said. “Really, the only people who know are Callen, Nathaniel Carter, Maura Gaines-Mars, Lucas Mars, and Jagger Armstrong.”

He closed his eyes.

“You never told me this. Got it?”

She grinned. “Told you what?”

“Exactly!”

Getting out of the vehicle, Elizabeth looked around. The place was huge. It looked more like an estate than a house. Then again, this was the retired Director of the FBI.

“We should get this started,” Livy said.

Only, Elizabeth was distracted.

Ethan moved to her side, protectively placing his body in front of hers. He’d seen that look before.

It scared the hell out of him.

“What’s wrong?” he whispered.

“We’re being watched.”

Ethan didn't like that at all. “Where?”

She looked around the open space, trying to pinpoint why she had that feeling.

Then, not far in the distance, a flock of birds took to flight over the director’s home. It was ominous and proved that she was right.

“That answers your question.”

It did.

It also terrified him.

“Let’s go.”

Blackhawk hustled her toward the house. If this case didn't end up killing him, it would be on hell of a miracle.

   
        
* * *
  B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x   * * *

Hoover Building

DC

Truth be told, Callen didn't mind being Elizabeth’s paperwork monkey. After all, someone had to do it. He didn't enjoy the idea of her walking into something blind, so he would do whatever it took to make sure she had all the information needed to keep her safe.

They each had a role in her life, and he knew that at that moment, this was his. At the end of the day, Callen simply wanted one thing.

His family home safe and intact.

As he searched the deceased director’s phone records, he noticed one thing.

Their first victim had received a phone call early in the day. In fact, if Chris was calling TOD five in the morning, then they were on to something.

This call had come in around two hours earlier. Most people didn't receive calls at that time of the night, especially if they weren’t active but instead retired.

That one detail kept nagging him to no end.

Callen’s gut was stirred up, and he needed to think about it more. As he leaned back in the chair, he flexed his fingers. Most of them were tingling, but two were still numb. It was now more a nuisance than anything else.

It was out of his control.

If fate wanted him to be a Fed, he’d get his mobility back. If it wasn’t meant to be, then there was nothing he could do about it. All Callen could hope was that time would prove to be his ally. If he worked hard, giving his body a break, he might be fine.

Or so he hoped.

Staring at that number, he continued to weigh everything in his mind. Maybe it was just a call. Maybe the man had a booty call. How the hell was he supposed to know?

It wasn’t as if the number showed up before.

Hell!

It could be a wrong number.

Still, something felt off.

Instead of moving on, Callen was going to go with his gut. He took the time to run the cell number.

Odd.

It was an unregistered phone.

That piqued his interest even more. Callen was beginning to believe it wasn’t a wrong number at all. They didn't believe in coincidences, and this one was too big to ignore.

Who gets a call from a burner cell at three in the morning, and then turns up dead?

Yeah, that was three days past odd.

So, Callen dug deeper. He knew something had to be there. There was no way he could write this off. The more he dug, the less he found.

In law enforcement, that was always suspicious. When he finally hit the wall, Callen had an idea.

He had a way to get more.

Picking up Gabe’s phone, he called down to the tech department. When they answered, he knew exactly what he needed.

“Director Rothschild, how can I help you?” came the voice.

“Actually, it’s Director Whitefox from FBI West. I’m using Gabe’s phone.”

“Sorry, sir! We have caller ID. I just assumed. What can I do for you?”

“I need a trace put on a phone. When it goes on, I need to be notified. Once it’s on, I need to know who is receiving the call.”

There was typing.

“Yes, sir. What’s the number?”

Callen rattled it off.

“I’ve set it up in the system, sir. If that phone goes active, we’ll notify you.”

“Call my cell,” he stated, giving him that number too. “I don’t care if it’s the middle of the night. I want to be notified. This is regarding an active investigation, and it takes top priority. If you need authorization, you can call Director Rothschild.”

“No need, Director. We’re good.”

Callen hung up.

While that was a decent direction to get them started, Callen knew that there was more digging to do, so he began running financials, research, and anything else that he believed Elizabeth would need.

Before the day was over, he was hoping to dig into Donnelly’s life. Hopefully, if he was lucky, he’d find the killer.

If this man was willing to leave his house in the middle of the night, there had to be a friendly voice on the other end. That would be the only way he’d risk leaving the safety of his home. The director wasn’t a fool.

There had to be a reason.

Callen truly believed it had everything to do with the person on the other end.

He was betting on it.

Until then, there was work to do.

Now Callen had to hope that at the end of this trail, they’d find the big answers.

If not, it could cost Elizabeth, Gabe, and Christopher Leonard their careers.

Or worse.

Their lives.

   
         
* * *
  B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x   * * *

William Donnelly’s

        Home

Inside, they found nothing out of place.

In fact, the house was incredibly clean, and that said a lot about the man. It wasn’t easy to run the world’s largest FBI hub. In order to do the job, there were always sacrifices to be made.

Gabe gave up a lot.

Ethan and Elizabeth did it too.

Yet, at the end of the day, they went home to their families and the warmth of a loving embrace. Director Donnelly’s house was the opposite.

It was crystal clear, just by looking around the sprawling home, that the man, at one time, lived for his career.

While the other directors had personal lives, it appeared that Donnelly didn’t.

There were no family photographs.

No personal mementos.

Nothing.

The house was nice, but it screamed bachelor. It reminded Elizabeth of Ethan’s brownstone when they first met. There was shiny chrome, black leather furniture, and no color to be found anywhere in the place.

Yeah, it was clear.

Had she not rolled into his life, this would have been his fate.

From the look on her husband’s face, he knew it too. There was no doubt that he was thankful he’d escaped this fate. Now that he had a life, he could see how lonely this existence would have been.

She squeezed his hand.

“This place is so damn clean that you could eat off the floor,” Gabe said, looking around.

They didn't disagree.

The man had a wicked case of OCD, and here was the proof.

Elizabeth wanted to check out one particular place in the house. If this was
‘The Butcher’
, she knew where he would have bled out.

It would have been in the kitchen.

Heading there, she could feel Livy at her back. It appeared that she was thinking the same thing. As they stood in the man’s large, granite filled kitchen, they looked around.

“This can’t be the same killer,” she said.

Elizabeth agreed.

“Chris said that he’d been bled out. There’s not a spot of blood here.”

“Maybe the killer cleaned it up?” Livy asked.

“No one cleans blood up that well. There’s a throw rug by the island. It looks like it fits there, right?”

“Yes.”

“There’s no sign of footprints in it, let alone blood. He wasn’t killed here.”

“We should have a team come here.”

Elizabeth laughed. It looked like her partner was back on her game. Some things never changed.

“What’s so funny?” Livy asked.

“You can take the Fed out of the FBI, but you can’t take the FBI out of the woman.”

She grinned. Elizabeth was right. It all came back to her the second she’d been handed that badge. Training never faded.

It was probably a good thing.

“Between the two of us,” she whispered, “I didn't think he’d go for this. I actually threw it out there expecting him to fight me tooth and nail on it.”

Elizabeth began taking pictures with her phone. “Yeah, I was shocked too.”

“I’ll have to give him lots of kisses later.”

Elizabeth snorted. “I can’t wait to hear all about it.”

She looked over at her friend. “I missed you. I think I missed this too.”

She grinned. “I couldn’t give it up. You’re stronger than I am,” Elizabeth admitted. “I love this too much. It’s in my blood. Speaking of which, I really wish we had a way to see if there was any blood here.”

“That would be helpful,” Livy stated.

Then Elizabeth had an idea. “I need to make a call.” Dialing her cell, she waited until the familiar voice answered.

“Hey, Momma-to-be, are you busy?”

“Elizabeth?” Christina asked.

“Yeah, darlin’, it’s me. How are you?” she inquired. Elizabeth missed Ethan’s old head tech. Christina Hart was wicked smart and incredibly resourceful. If there was a trick, she’d know it. Don’t get her wrong…Merry was awesome in her own right, but Christina was borderline genius.

“I’m ready to pop, boss! This baby is huge. I think I may be in serious trouble. Are you positive that they all come out the same way? I picture that scene in
‘Alien’
.”