Dead Shall Speak (An FBI/Romance Thriller Book 10) (4 page)

Callen knew his brother was trying to cheer him up. He appreciated it, but what he’d like even more was sinking his body deep into Elizabeth’s, even if for just for a second.

Then he could breathe again.

It was like his whole body was acutely aware that she was gone. He was painfully erect all the time, wanting his woman. Doctor Gaines warned him it might happen. Despite the sexual abuse, he found comfort in being with his woman. She was a safe place to hide.

Apparently, he hid a lot.

This was hell.

“Doctor Gaines was amused that we’re still in bed together.” Callen offered.

Ethan lifted a brow. “Did you tell her we put pillows between us?”

He finally laughed. “Yeah. She still laughed at us. I don’t know if she’s amused that we’re a threesome, or fascinated by it. It’s so damn hard to tell.”

“Probably both.”

“Yeah, I figured as much.”

“Well, Elizabeth is coming home soon. We’re just about ready to plug the leak and get Nathaniel Carter ready to take over the job of handler for Oracle.”

“Really?”

Ethan nodded. “A couple more weeks.”

Whitefox actually groaned. “I’m not going to make it. I swear I’ll never take her for granted again. I promise that if we get our wife back, I’ll thank the powers that be each day before I fuck her silly.”

That made him snort. “Yeah, Dear God, thank you for a woman to screw. When you created the vagina, you were on your game. Amen. I’m sure that’s one prayer God never heard before.”

The men both relaxed marginally. Family had that cathartic effect on you. When you needed them, they were there to pull you out of the hole.

“A few more weeks and she’s all ours.”

Those words alone made Callen get up and start pacing.  “Weeks?” That was the last thing he needed to hear. He was pretty sure he wasn’t going to make it. The need was burying him, as were the erotic thoughts and dreams.

“I’m so screwed. How the hell do you look so calm?” he demanded.

Blackhawk grinned. “You told me not to discuss self-servicing with you. Sometimes, you have to take the edge off.”

“It’s official. I have that picture in my head. We really have to change the subject. The last thing I need, for my mental wellbeing, is picturing that. It’s just wrong, and we’re having a threesome. That says a lot.”

Ethan agreed. “I talked to Gabe yesterday. He said she’s safe, fine, and being guarded.”

That calmed him down enough to stop pacing. “She’s being guarded? What the hell does that mean? I thought she was the one on guard duty.”

He knew that the big jolt was coming. Ethan only hoped that Callen could handle it. “Yeah, it’s both. Lyzee has a Marine helping her guard Oracle.”

Oh, Callen didn't like that at all.

His face said it all, even before he could get the words out.

“Wait. Let me get this straight. Our woman is alone with a Marine? She’s a walking sex fest when she’s pregnant, and Gabe dangled a Marine in front of her? Oh come on! The universe hates us. That’s what this has to be all about. It’s because we were serial fornicators as young men.”

Sadly, Ethan had thought the same damn thing.

The pacing continued.

“What’s next? How much more torturous could this be? Oh! I know. Why don’t you tell me he’s Native too? Why not drive the blade a little deeper?”

Ethan trusted his wife but Callen had a very valid concern. He’d always wondered when the time would come that Elizabeth would wake up and see that she’d married beneath her. She would get mad whenever he said that, but it was his fear. Somehow, Ethan and Callen scored a gorgeous outsider, and trying to keep her was their goal. If they were horny, she was too. Add that to a young Marine, and Ethan wanted to self-medicate.

A lot.

“I checked him out. The first thing I did was pull his military records.”

Callen looked over. “I need to see them.”

Blackhawk didn't know what to do. There was the potential to make the man crazy. “Okay.” If it was him, he’d need to see too.

Hesitantly, Ethan slid the file across the desk.

Whitefox opened it and began scanning the details. Fortunately for him, the man wasn’t Native. He was young, handsome, brave, and covered in tattoos.

“Well, holy bloody kick in the balls. I was wrong. It could get worse. Our woman is being guarded by a tattoo covered soldier. Great.”

Yeah, Blackhawk thought the same damn thing. “I know.”

“This is horrible. I’m edgy, cranky, and horny as hell. Now I find out the woman we love is with another man, and he’s someone she would be attracted to. I want to punch holes in all the walls.”

Blackhawk didn't want to laugh at his brother’s discomfort, but he understood. “I hear you. I thought the same exact thing when I saw it.”

“Which was when?” Callen asked.

“Three weeks, four days, nine hours, and twenty three minutes ago,” he stated, checking his watch. Sadly, he’d been letting it eat away at him for a while.

“We need a distraction,” Callen declared.

“Like what? A rather entertaining nuclear holocaust in which there are thousands of gruesome casualties?” Ethan asked. That was about all that would get his mind off some young soldier that close to his beautiful dick magnet wife.

Yeah, he went there.

Sue him.

Callen dropped back down on the couch and tried not to think about sex or the woman he loved. “Good point.”

“Think about work.”

“I’m all caught up.”

Okay, well there had to be something. Then Ethan recalled Callen’s other love in life. “We should go hunting. Maybe killing something will drop the testosterone levels,” Blackhawk offered.

“You hate hunting.”

“That’s okay. You don’t, so I’ll go with you.”

The idea had merit. If there was something Callen liked, it was sitting in the silence of the Rez to look for a deer. Maybe it was barbaric, but he really needed to vent some of his frustration, and bloodshed, with a gun, seemed the best way. “Okay. Let’s do it.”

“We can put in for some time off and head out this Saturday morning. I’m sure that Dad will take parent duty over the weekend. He’s been bitching that he’s out of jerky.”

The idea of blowing some animal apart to forget his need to bone his woman seemed wrong, but he was desperate at that point—
in more ways than one.

When Ethan’s intercom buzzed, he reached for it. “Yes, Ginny?” he asked.

“Mr. B, Elizabeth has a call on line three. It’s Doctor Magnus, and he sounds…frantic.”

That put them both on alert. Right before they sent Tony from their home to hunt down the woman of his dreams, they told him to call if there was something he needed. Ethan really hoped the younger woman didn't make a break for it. Elizabeth was the one who worked on broken hearts.

It was out of their element.

“Tony, what’s wrong?” Blackhawk asked, putting the call on speaker, so his brother could listen in.

“I have a big problem. I need Lyzee.”

“She’s not here.”

“Oh, hell. I need help!”

They could tell by the tone of his voice that this was going to be more than just a girl issue. In fact, they only had him check in weekly, and two days ago he sounded fine and in love. Everything appeared to be going smoothly.

“What happened? Are you hurt?” Callen asked, making his presence known.

“My team uncovered some bodies.”

Blackhawk relaxed. That was exactly the plan. “We know. That’s why you’re there. You retrieve, we solve. That’s how this is going down.”

There was a pause as Tony said something to someone there. He didn't sound pleased.

“No, I mean ones with flesh on them. We dug up more recent victims. I know we were expecting a mass grave of thirty year old skeletons, but the one Jaxon found today is decaying but has some flesh. There’s no way that could happen unless it’s recent.”

They got it now.

“What else?” Blackhawk added, his interest piqued.

“We used the ground penetrating radar and there are two more. I need to know what you want to do. I know that with old graves, the evidence is going to be long gone, eroded with time, but if all three bodies are still in the process of decay, we could pull evidence.”

It was the FBI’s jurisdiction.

They were funding the dig and going to be handing the evidence over to a team. That group of Feds would then work on solving it, once they were all extricated.

“Can you follow protocol by using gloves and bags?” Ethan asked.

“Yes, but it’s not going to be as pristine as if Merry did it. I’m working with academia here. These doctors have never seen a body with flesh, unless it was in a book.”

“Do your best,” Ethan offered. Glancing over at Callen, he nodded. “It looks like you got your distraction,” he offered.

Thank God!

Callen could focus on death and not the luscious curves of his pregnant woman.

Damn!

There she was again, running naked through his mind.

“We’re going to call Gabe and let him know what’s going on, then we’re going to head out. Expect Callen and myself sometime in the next few hours,” he said to his anthropologist.

“Uh, what about Elizabeth?” Tony asked. “You’re coming here without her?”

That made him laugh.

“You do realize that I’ve been an FBI agent longer than she has, and I’ve worked in the field before without her? When I was a bachelor, I was having a torrid affair with my job.”

There was silence.

“I think I can muddle along. Besides, I’m bringing Callen. He’ll have to be my sidekick.”

He grinned. “It’s cooler when she says it, Cowboy.”

Yeah, Blackhawk agreed, but they were going to have to play with the cards they were dealt.

“Just have your team of academics get the bodies out the best they can. Once we get there, the team will take over.”

Tony didn't sound thrilled.

“What?” Blackhawk asked.

“Are you sure you can’t call her up and get her here? No offense, Director, but… well…you’re not Lyzee. The tech team works better under her. They kind of stare and drool at you and Callen. You’re a distraction.”

Yeah, he probably didn't need to know that.

“I think I may pleasantly surprise you,” he offered, sending a text to the tech team. It looked like they were hopping a jet and heading to Kentucky to play in the dead bodies.

This would be the perfect distraction.

Hopefully.

“We’ll be there in a few hours. Hold down the fort,” he demanded, before hanging up.

“Yeah, that sounds better from Lyzee too,” Callen stated, grinning. “It was a nice try though.”

“I’m subpar, but what can I do?” he asked. Then he dialed Gabe’s private number, hoping to just leave a message. That way, he couldn’t deny their request to go out in the field. There was no way the man was going to be thrilled that FBI West would be without at least one director there to man the ship.

When he answered on the second ring, Ethan wanted to curse.

“Yes, Ethan?” he asked.

“We have a problem,” he began, telling him everything that he knew about the fleshy body find in the pit of skeletons. The entire time, his boss said nothing.

“Okay, and?” he finally said.

“Callen and I are heading there.”

There was a pause.

Blackhawk knew what was coming. It was only a matter of time.

“Is that advisable, since you’re down a director?” Gabe asked. While Elizabeth was away, he knew the men had to be suffering. He was acting the intermediary between them. Ethan would ask about her, she would ask about them.

Despite how tough he was, Gabriel Rothschild hated to see his family suffer. Unfortunately, you sometimes had to take one for the team. Being in the FBI wasn’t a pleasure cruise.

“My paperwork is up to date, I can manage from Belleville, and Callen doesn’t have any mediating to do. Oh, and you owe us.”

It was that last part that got his attention.

“Oh, is that so?”

Ethan, while the calmest of the two FBI West directors, knew that he needed to take a direct approach on this one. “Yes. Our pregnant wife is out somewhere doing God knows what, and we need this distraction. How would you feel if you had to be away from Livy for a month with no contact?”

There was silence.

“It’s brutal, Gabe. I’m not asking for favors. When I took this position, I promised to do it to the best of my ability. I’ve done that. You promised that I could pick and choose my assignments, and right now, I need to be out working. Sitting here is hell. I think my record speaks for itself. Callen and I have to get out of here. The ghosts of Lyzee haunts the place. I can’t look at her office door without getting sick. I sit in here and picture my wife having coffee at my desk. Her laughter is gone, and FBI West is torturing both of us. All I’m asking for is this one little concession.”