Fire Burns Hot ((An FBI/ Romance Thriller~ (Book 5))) (61 page)

“Boy! If your granddad was here he’d smack you senseless for even letting that fall out of your mouth. You keep those thoughts locked up in your head.
She’s giving you a child!”

Both brothers started laughing.

“Just more proof, gentlemen. I am absolutely, unequivocally, totally Wyler’s favorite,” Elizabeth taunted them and stuck out her tongue.

It was all fun and games, until
Wyler noticed that Elizabeth didn’t look so well. “I think you should go upstairs and get some sleep, sweetheart. You look worn down, and I’m sure I know why.” He gave both his sons a look.

Ethan waited for her to put up a fight.

Elizabeth yawned, and put down her salad. “I think I’m going to take your advice, Dad,” she answered, standing. “I’m drained.”

Wyler stood. “I’ll clean up,” he offered. “Head to bed
young lady. You three need your sleep.”

Elizabeth kissed him on the
cheek. “Thanks, Dad,” she said and started for the steps.

Before she could get there, Callen swept her up in his arms
. 

“I have you,
angel,” he said softly.

Normally Elizabeth would protest, but she simply laid her head on his shoulder.
“I know you do, Cal.”

“Night Dad,” both men called, as they went to their room.

Wyler watched them and felt off balance. How he wished his father was here to help him figure out why he was so worried. “Dad, keep them safe,” he said to the emptiness around them. “We have a baby coming and need your protection.”

                                *    *     *

The killer took his time, driving her prone body back to where he picked her up. Parking behind the building, he planned his next move from the shadows. No one was around and he knew it was time to start. Rummaging in his trunk he couldn’t find his can of gasoline. He found another bottle of liquid and decided to go with it. It said flammable and would have to do for now.

Dragging her out by the dumpster, he rested her against the side and dumped the liquid on her. Lighting a match he dropped it on her wet body and ran back to his car. From the shadows he could see the flames covering her
form. Their blue and then red tips licked at the air surrounding her, forcing him to smile.

The smell of burning cloth and flesh filled the night air, and made his heart pound in his chest. Her hair just started to melt, when the back door of the building opened and screaming filled the night air.

Shit!

The woman
in the doorway screamed bloody murder, until a big man came running out. At that point, he started his engine and slowly drove the opposite way around the building to get away before the police showed up.

He slammed his fist into the steering wheel repeatedly. Damn it to hell, he didn’t get to see his favorite part. It was all ruined. He should have lit her up right where he killed her.

Angrily he headed home.

Next time he wouldn’t make the same mistake.

                                *    *     *

As an FBI agent, one was always prepared to be pulled from sleep by a p
hone call. It was startling to hear all three phones go off at the same time, but they all suspected why. Elizabeth’s rang and the men’s phones beeped, alerting them to the reality of it all. It meant they were all getting out of their warm cozy bed for a chilly night out in the cold.

“Hello?” she muttered into the phone. It was her administrative assistant on the other end. Jameson Crow worked the night shift at FBI West.

“Boss? Sorry to wake you up, but a call just came in about a body on fire at the club you were working today. It’s a woman, and it’s not pretty.”

Elizabeth jumped out of bed. “Call in the tech team too, Jameson,” she said, hanging up the phone.

Both men were slipping into jeans and their shoes.

“Killer struck again and left us a present at the kitty club,” she said, buckling her own belt and clipping on her side arm. “We need to get there fast. I’m betting at this very minute the incompetent idiot Detective Leto is there trying to prove this one has nothing to do with our case.”

“Good,” answered Blackhawk. “I want to meet the asshole that put his hands on you,” he stated, clipping on his own gun and walking towards their door. “See you in the car,” he stated coolly.

“I hate when he gets that scary look on his face,” Elizabeth said, following him. “Callen, can you keep your brother from killing Detective Leto?” she asked, hustling after the man.

He laughed. “Stop him? I plan on helping him.”

Elizabeth shook her head. “
Funny how this brother thing just turned ugly fast.”

Standing outside ‘
The Pussy Cat Club
’, Elizabeth and her team stared down at the charred remains of the woman. Granted she wasn’t as badly burned as the last six women, but the flames had still done a number on her.

The portion of her face that was half burned had
skin and flesh hanging sickly from her cheek, as it began to peel away like burnt paper. Her hair was mostly melted against the badly beaten part of her face.

Lulu hadn’t had an easy life or death. The only reason Elizabeth could identify the woman, was the tattoo on her wrist. It was the same as the one she’d noticed during the interview.

“What’s up with the hair?” questioned Blackhawk, pointing with a gloved hand at a few spots on her skull.

“I’m guessing she had fake hair extensions put in and when the heat destroyed the regular hair, it melted the faux strands into a sick puddle.
” Doctor Leonard touched the hardening, melted mess.

“What’s the white residue?” asked Blackhawk.

Chris shook his head. “Apparently one of the girls came through the door to have a smoke break. She found the body on fire, screamed and got the attention of the bartender. He rushed out, grabbed a fire extinguisher and put the woman out.”

Elizabeth closed her eyes in frustration. “So any trace the killer left on her body is now gone or contaminated?”

“Yes. The spray of the fire extinguisher would have blown off any fibers onto the ground and into the air. Plus the bartender used an extinguisher with ammonium phosphate as the main chemical. The ammonium screwed with the blood on her body and made it useless. I’ll run it, but don’t hold your breath,” he said, checking her hands. “Oh and more bad news, I’m betting the killer snapped off all her nails, since they’re suspiciously missing. They tore to the cuticle bed, so if she scratched him or got any DNA, it’s gone now too.”

“Come on!” Elizabeth
kicked the dumpster in frustration.

“What’s wrong?
Is the FBI having a hard time solving this case?” Detective Leto said snidely from behind them. “And here the governor thought the all mighty FBI could handle it. Maybe they should have passed it off to a man. You know, someone with a clue on how to run it.”

Elizabeth had to actually place herself in front of the men to keep Ethan and Callen from killing
him.

“All this equal rights bullshit is what caused this. Women should be home popping out babies and not trying to do a man’s work,” he grinned, enjoying the taunting. “Hey why don’t you go get knocked up, Director Blackhawk? Maybe playing mommy will be a little easier than FBI.”

This time it was the men that needed to hold her back. Elizabeth was about to tear into him, when Detective Cyra Austin tapped him on the shoulder. When he turned, she clocked him so hard that the crack of her fist hitting his face was audible.

“Oh shit,” muttered
Whitefox grinning, as the man landed on his back on the ground. “That had to hurt, and be very embarrassing that a woman just cold cocked you like that,” he said from standing behind Elizabeth.

“I am so damn sick of listening to you spew your ego
tistical bullshit, Brian. You think you’re better at a job just because of a dick between your legs? Well here’s a news flash. You should head on into the women’s locker room. On the one wall is quite an interesting limerick about the tiny size of your junk.”

Elizabeth started laughing
at that one. “Boys, please remove the asshole from my crime scene,” she stated, watching Detective Austin.

“My pleasure,” growled Blackhawk.
He and Callen both grabbed him under and arm and dragged him away and under the police tape.

Elizabeth whistled. “Doc, can you come over here? I need you to take a look at Detective Austin’s hand.
It looks pretty busted up.”

“It’s okay. Brian has a damn hard head. I’ll survive.”

Chris hustled over and took her hand in his, concern filling his eyes. Gently, he pressed on the joints. “Does this hurt?” he asked her.

“Little bit,” she said grimacing
, as he pressed down. “Okay, a bit more than a that.”

Pulling an ice pack out of the first aid kit, he placed it on her hand and ace bandaged it up. “Keep this on for a little while, if the swelling doesn’t go down, I’ll have to cut that ring off,” he stated, pointing to the ring on her finger.

“Thank you, Chris.”

He nodded at her. “Anytime, Cyra.” Looking over at Elizabeth he nodded. “I’m going to transport the body back to FBI West. I want to do a trace sweep for anything
that could be left.”

Elizabeth knew the look in his eyes. “What’s got your interest piqued Doc?” she asked.

“I don’t smell gasoline, and this time she didn’t burn as fast and hot. I think he used another accelerant to light the fire. If he did then maybe we have something to trace him with.”

Elizabeth pulled out her cell phone and called Tori. She hated to wake her and Julian up too, but she needed her fire expert in the lab, especially if they suspected Patrick Wells.

“Hello?” said the sleepy voice.

“Saddle up, Agent. I want you in house in thirty minutes. We
have another,” she stated. “He switched up the way he lit her up and location. We’re all back on duty.”

“Julian too?
” Tori queried, coming awake fast.

Elizabeth looked around. “Yeah, at daylight
our tracker’s going to be coming to the scene to look around. The killer purposely left her here outside the club. I think he’s taunting us. I need Julian to look around and see if he can find anything.”

“I’ll
pass that on,” Tori replied.

Elizabeth looked over as a police car screamed into the parking lot. “I have to go; I have
a police captain to tear a new one.”

The man’s eyes were locked onto Detective Austin. It appeared that Brian Leto wasn’t only a male chauvinist pig, but also a tattletale who deserved th
at punch. Elizabeth tried to get to the detective first.

“Detective, can you explain to me why you punched out a fellow officer on a crime scene?” he boomed. “Of all the irresponsible things I’ve heard from my officers, this has to be one of the big ones. You’re on suspension as of this moment and you
’ll be going before the review board.”

Blackhawk stepped forward
, taking control of the situation. “Excuse me, are you Captain Gilman?” he asked, moving between the woman and her boss.

“I am
! Who the hell are you?” he said staring up at the giant Indian man.

Ethan held out his hand. “I’m Director Ethan Blackhawk. You may have met my partner and wife,” he said, pointing at Elizabeth. “I get that you’re angry with your Ms. Austin, but she was provoked into the punch by your asshole detective.”

“So, you think that just because you’re the FBI, you can now tell me how to discipline my officers?”

Blackhawk grinned at him.

“Oh shit,” muttered Callen to Elizabeth. “That’s his ‘fuck you’ smile. He’s going to make the man bleed.”

Elizabeth watched her husband and couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah it is. I love when he gets that look, and the person he’s smilin
g at has no idea what’s coming,” she mumbled, low enough that only Callen caught her words.

“You take care of your staff, Director Blackhawk and keep your nose out of my
damn business.”

Ethan turned around. “Cyra, turn in your bad
ge and gun and resign,” he said softy. His voice held a tiny twinge of menace behind the words.

Cyra hoped he knew what he was doing, because she just tossed her career away and was at Gilman’s mercy. “Okay, Director.” She slipped off her badge, and popped the
magazine from her gun and discharged the round in the chamber.

“Think about what you’re doing, Detective,” bellowed Gilman.

“Here’s my gun and badge, Captain. I’m resigning my position effective immediately.” Cyra handed him her badge and gun.

Blackhawk stared at her. “Ms. Austin, have you ever wanted to be an FBI agent?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“You’re hired,” he said, an
d turned back on the Captain. “Now, as you can see Gilman, you have no business here with MY AGENT. If you attempt to follow through on anything your Detective stated happened, I will go on record refuting it.”

“As will I,” interjected Elizabeth.

“Me too,” Callen said, raising his hand.

Gilman looked ready to explode
in absolute fury.

“As you can plainly see, Captain. You no longer have anyone on this crime scene that is your direct responsibility, but let me make this crystal clear. I am very good at playing politics
, and I will have the call into the governor by eight a.m. informing him of Detective Leto and yourself trying to sideline this investigation. I will have your job, and I will make your life a living hell. If you think I don’t have the power or inclination to screw with your life, then think again. Now you keep your detective away from my people or next time I won’t be civil. Don’t just stand there. How about you close your mouth and get the hell off our crime scene?”

Elizabeth snickered at the look on the man’s face.

“You screwed up, Austin. You’ll never be a cop again!” he shouted over his shoulder.

“Yeah, she’ll be a federal agent that gets to
brow beat the local cops. Sounds like an upgrade to me,” stated Elizabeth.

“Welcome aboard, Cyra. You have to pass qualifications to get your badge and gun, but other than that you have a job with us at FBI West.”

“I don’t know what to say,” she said, staring at her new bosses.

Elizabeth pointed at the tech team. “Get some gloves on and help them get the evidence loaded up. On our team you have to be able to pull double duty in the field.”

She nodded, pulling the ice pack off her hand. “Thank you both,” Cyra smiled, rushing off.

When the woman was out of ear shot, she turned towards her husband. “That was the sexiest display of bossing a local cop around that I’ve ever seen, Ethan. It was very hot,” she said, going up on her toes and kissing him fast.

When she pulled away he was grinning. “I aim to please, ma’am,” he said.

Elizabeth whispered something in his ear and his mouth opened
, and he stared incredulously.

“Hey! I want to hear what she said,” interjected Callen. “Come on!”

“Tell off the local cops and I will,” she said, laughing as she crossed the parking lot. “Come on boys, we have strippers to question yet again.”

“Ethan, you have to tell me what she said,” he whispered to his brother.
“No secrets!”

Blackhawk repeated the words.

“Oh. My. God!”

He started laughing. “Yeah tell me about it. I’m going to start telling off every cop I meet.”

“Count me in,” he said, watching her walk away, as he wondered if she could actually pull that off.

                                *    *     *

The killer paced in his living room as he thought about what just happened. The entire thing was screwed up. He was pretty sure that the FBI agent had seen him at the club the other day leaving. Now it was going to get dangerous if the woman could identify him.

All he kept thinking was how badly he screwed this up. He was a smart man, how could he fix it? Pacing was just agitating him, and he cracked open a beer and chugged it down. Okay, tomorrow
he’d go to work and find someone that could give him an alibi for the night. Just in case.

Yeah, that would
solve it. Maybe someone he was employed with could be convinced that he was with them the entire night. It wasn’t like his co-workers were the brightest bulbs in the box. They could be talked into just about anything.

Relief filled him
, and he grabbed another beer. His shift at work started in a few hours and right now he needed to calm down, not think about getting caught and simply sleep.

Climbing into bed he dropped onto the covers and placed his hands behind his head. His mind began wandering back to the woman he’d taken that night.