Deep Dark Mire (An FBI Romance Thriller ~ book four) (35 page)

“We’ll run it against your DNA too on file at FBI West.”

Desdemona didn’t know if she should say
anything. “I don’t know who my dad is, and I can’t be sure if Cordelia and I had the same father. My mom wouldn’t tell us.”

“Does your grandmother know?” he asked, glancing over at her.

“I don’t know. Grand'mere won’t talk about it.”

“We’re going to
lay low until the team removes the bodies. The sheriff sicked a tail on us to lead them there, and I need to buy them some time.” He pulled into a coffee shop. “Let’s go get a drink, Doctor Adare.”

“Okay, Director.” Desdemona followed him into the coffee shop and looked around. Everyone stared, and gratefully it wasn’t at her this time. It could have something to do with the giant man beside her in the very expensive
clothing and sunglasses. Or the fact he wasn’t wearing his suit jacket, and clipped to his hip was his gun and shiny FBI badge, face out for the world to see.

Bla
ckhawk ordered them both coffee and sauntered to the table closest to the window. He pulled out his phone, calling his wife.

“Hey
Cowboy this is really bad timing. I’m ass deep in swamp water and trying to not get some funky water borne illness or leeches in really inconvenient places,” she said, laughing when her team started snickering.

“Just giving you a heads up. Sheriff ha
s been notified and he set a deputy on me to find the bodies. I’m holed up at a coffee shop. You’re probably going to have someone staking out the tech vans when you come out of the swamp.”

Elizabeth nodded. “Thanks
Ethan. Just so you know, next time you get the gators and swamp.”

“Deal, and
Desdemona has agreed to move into the bed and breakfast for the time being.”

Elizabeth was surprised, but then she
glanced over at Whitefox. Her bet was she was going to try and get him to change his mind. “Callen doesn’t want back on that train, and I tend to agree.”

Blackhawk got it. “
Hand your phone to Julian.” He waited until the man came on the line. “I have another assignment for you if you're interested.”

“If it involves a swamp
, then no freaking way.”

“I need a body guard.”

He didn’t think twice. “Hell yeah I’m in.” He figured he’d be guarding Elizabeth Blackhawk’s body, and he’d seen her in a bikini top. He’d stand in a swamp to do that any day or on his head on shards of glass.

Blackhawk looked at the phone. That was easy. “Okay, Doctor
Adare needs company round the clock.” The woman didn’t look happy, and he wasn’t sure if it was because he just got her a babysitter or because it wasn’t Callen.

“Damn, it’s not Elizabeth.”

Blackhawk lifted a brow. “Uh, not my wife, no. Why? Does she need a body guard?”

Julian started laughing. “Oh yeah she does,” he said, handing the phone back.

“Ethan?” asked Elizabeth.

“Why does Julian want to guard your body?” he inquired, needed to know.
“Other than the aesthetic reasons?” He knew it was going to piss him off, but as husband he was obligated to ask.

“Ethan, you’re breaking up.”

Elizabeth hung up the phone and started laughing, and then pointed at Littlemoon. “You’re first on my ass kicking list as soon as I get my cowboy boots back on,” she said, holding her side of the body bag.

“I so can’t wait,” he snickered and earned a dirty look
from Whitefox.

“You’re going to be waiting until hell freezes over, Julian,” muttered Callen.
“She’s not kicking your ass, I am.

It
only made him laugh more. 

~ Chapter Nine ~

Tuesday Afternoon

The team stopped at the edge of the swamp and true to Blackhawk’s warning, they had company. Jonathan Delray was sitting in his patrol car, watching their tech van like a hawk. Now Elizabeth needed to find a way to distract him.

“I can shoot him,” offered Whitefox
, grinning.

“We need to get these bodies past him and to the van. I don’t see how we’re going to pull this off,” added Doctor Leonard. “Unless,” he looked over at Elizabeth. “Hey, Miss Kitty
?”

“Oh Jesus Christ,” she muttered and knew where he was going with it.
“Seriously Chris?”

“News flash
! You’re the only one in a bikini top, and I’m betting if you walked into the yard without your vest and guns he’d think you were coming from behind the house laying in the sun.”

Whitefox was horrified and intrigued to see if she’d do it
for a myriad of reasons, mostly because he was fascinated to see her in action.

“
Hell no! Callen can shoot him.”

Doctor Tony
Magnus looked at Doctor Chris Leonard and knew what button to push, because they knew her so well. “We dare you.”

They had her and knew it.
Elizabeth didn’t know whether to laugh or punch them both. “Guys!”

“Is Elizabeth Blackhawk, dare taker extraordinaire
, afraid of a little old deputy? Maybe you think you can’t get his attention.” Chris Leonard taunted her, and had all the techs snickering. “You are getting older. Maybe you can’t be Miss Kitty anymore.”

“Lyzee, you don’t have to do this,” interject
ed Whitefox, knowing they were baiting her.

“
I can’t believe this week! Okay, but first we make a little promise that no one tells Ethan about this, or he’ll lose his damn mind. Deal?”

Christina laughed. “What do we get
for our silence?” she snickered, enjoying herself.

Elizabeth pointed at her. “I do your yearly evaluations. You want your damn jobs
or you want to be the new janitorial staff in the daycare?”

“Deal!”

Elizabeth started stripping off her gear. “I have to be out of my damn mind!”

Whitefox took her gun and slung it over his shoulder and he was grinning. Elizabeth sucker punched him in the ribs. “That’s for enjoying this
a little too much. You better not tell your brother a damn thing.”

“My lips are sealed, Miss Kitty,
” he purred in her ear, enjoying every damn second of it.

Elizabeth trudged towards the house and out of the lin
e of sight. She made it to land, stepping out of the boots and rolling up the bottom of her cutoffs to cover Callen’s blood. She heard snickering and pointed at the weeds.

Un
-freaking-believable.

When Ethan found out
about this, she was never going out in the field again. Elizabeth pulled out the ponytail and flipped her hair over her head to fluff it up. She dropped her vest and tried to look and smell like she didn’t just wade through the swamp. Funny, no one was snickering now.

Whitefox watched her and felt his entire body go hot and tight. Jesus, this scene was being added to his memory for future erotic dreams. Looking around, he didn’t doubt the same was true for all the men, just from the looks on their faces.

Walking around the side of the house, Elizabeth pretended she was coming out the back door. “Hey, Deputy!” she waved and smiled. Yeah, she had his attention. He was getting out of his car and practically rushing towards her. Damn it, she was hoping to distract him not bring her closer.

“Wow, you look different on your day off.”

“Yeah I do.” She pulled out her best Miss Kitty purr and smiled at him, twirling her hair around her finger. “What can I do for you? I’m just waiting for Desdemona to come back.” Now she prayed the woman would stay away just long enough.

“How about I come around back for a drink with you
and keep you company?” he winked.

Oh hell. “Okay,” she smiled. This meant one thing. Deputy Delray was going to sleep again. “Oh
, Deputy?”

He offered her his arm. “Yeah
, gorgeous lady?”

Elizabeth hit him right on the pressure point
, and he crumbled to the ground. “Clear,” she yelled over her shoulder. “Let’s put him in his car. Maybe he’ll think it was a dream.”

Someone
yelled back to her; ‘a wet one’. And Elizabeth glared over her shoulder. “I swear on everything that’s holy, I will bust you all down to mop cleaners if this gets out.”

Whitefox helped place the body in the van and then went to help with the deputy. “Lyzee,
that was very hot.” He started laughing when she shook her head. “I am so turned on right now, Miss Kitty.”

“Cal, remember the other day in the bed and breakfast?”
she asked, running her hand down his back as he shoved the deputy into the car.

“Oh yeah
I certainly do, beautiful,” and boy did he ever remember that kiss. “You can top it?” he flirted, and knew it was wrong but it was so damn funny.

“I can give you something to make you never forget,” she whispered back, lifting
the deputy’s legs in the car.

Whitefox swallowed the lump in his throat.

“I’m
freezing cold. Can I have your shirt?” she asked, innocently. Immediately, he dropped his vest and pulled it off, handing it to her and not thinking twice.

Elizabeth whistled and Christina and the other female tech looked up. “Hey ladies, look who else liked tattoos as a boy.”

Whitefox went red. “Oh my God! You just threw me under the lecherous Christina bus.” Callen started laughing.

“Yeah I did
, and true to my word, you shall never forget it.”

Elizabeth laughed harder when Christina moved closer.
“Wow, Callen. Look at that heart on your back. Whose initials are they?” Now she ran, because she knew he wanted that shirt back to cover up the ink. “Get moving team!”

They all hopped into their vehicles and pulled out. Callen Whitefox managed to toss his gear into the trunk and hop in before his partner pulled out.

Elizabeth was still laughing, and her eyes were sparkling. Damn he loved working with her. He wondered if he could be her partner every damn day.

                                *   *   *

Blackhawk got the
text message, they were clear and there was indeed a deputy at Desdemona’s house. He sent back one asking how they avoided and then no response.

Odd
, oh wait. No it wasn’t. He probably just wasn’t being told because it would involve his blood pressure or a stroke.

“
We need to get out of here; the team has finished their retrieval. I’ll drop you back at the bed and breakfast and you need to hang out there. I’ll get the samples of DNA for your sister later or possibly tomorrow.”

“
Okay.”

“
The team has this, Doctor Adare,” and that was all he said. Blackhawk’s mind was too busy pondering how a team of three techs, Christina, two doctors, his brother and Elizabeth snuck two sets of remains into the vans without anyone noticing. Oh, if she thought he was buying the no reply, she was sadly mistaken.

Ethan’s hus
band intuition was screaming, and it was more than likely he was going to regret knowing about.

All he could hope was his brother had kept it under control
. Then Blackhawk realized the complete absurdity of that statement. The two of them lived to cause chaos and mayhem.

Maybe
Elizabeth needed a new babysitter. Like a priest or a very cranky nun.

                                *   *   *

Elizabeth and her team pulled up to the ME’s office and looked around. There weren’t any cars and it looked lifeless, just like the corpses they were transporting.

That just seemed suspicious.

“Lights are out in the building. I better go check the door,” she said, looking over. “Sheriff Jackwagon doesn’t get near our bodies. Drive them cross country to FBI West if you have to do it!”

Whitefox nodded.

Elizabeth ran across the parking lot and pulled on the door. It was locked. Now what the hell were they going to do? She grinned as she stood there staring at the shirtless man in the front of the vehicle. Running back across the lot she leaned in to talk to Callen. “Remember when you were a kid, and you and Ethan broke into places?”

“Vaguely
, do I remember anything reminiscent of that,” he said, laughing.

“
Those doors are locked. Can you get us in?”