Fire Burns Hot ((An FBI/ Romance Thriller~ (Book 5))) (73 page)

Callen raced to the front door with his brother behind him. Both men had their guns drawn and ready.

Elizabeth and Julian start banging on the door until it was
wrenched open from the outside, by the agent taking pictures of cars. Julian sounded like some wounded beast, as he rushed toward prone Tori lying ten feet away. There were drag marks and blood everywhere.

Running around the building, Ethan slid to a stop as he heard the engine. It went the opposite way around the building. 

“Shit, is she okay?” asked Callen, calling for Doctor Leonard.

Elizabeth knelt beside Julian. He was holding Tori in his arms.

“I swear to God I’m going to kill this asshole,” he said, shifting her hair and seeing the red stain of blood on his sleeve. “I’m going to end his miserable fucking existence.”

Chris Leonard rushed through the parking lot and to the back of the building. Just having to hear ‘
agent down’ over the com scared him out of his mind. Dropping to his knees beside Julian, he touched Tori’s throat with his fingertips.

“Her pulse is strong.” Then he inspected the lump on her forehead. “She’s going to have a
wicked headache tomorrow, but won’t need stitches,” he said. “I think you should call an ambulance. I don’t have gear here to check her out.”

Ethan pulled out his phone and made the call.

Tori started coming to, and she stared up into Julian’s worried face. “Hey,” she said, touching her forehead. “Damn it, that hurts,” she muttered.

“Tori, what happened?” questioned Elizabeth.

There was no reply.

“Callen, can you get everyone back around the building? Ethan and I need to talk to Tori.”

He nodded and helped give them some breathing room. It obviously wasn’t going to be a great conversation if they were going at it as the bosses in private.

Elizabeth gave her a few seconds. “Spill it
, because I know I said no outside the building alone and here you are, outside alone. Unless the killer was inside and pulled you out here, then you have some explaining to do. ”

Tori shook her head as if clearing cobwebs. “I was in the back and started feeling sick. I opened the door to get air
, and then felt like I was falling. I think I hit my head on the dumpster.”

“Was it another blackout, Tori” queried Julian.

Blackhawk spoke up. “Another blackout? As in this wasn’t the first one?” He stared at his wife, and she shrugged completely unaware.

“Tori had one the other day. She just froze up.” Julian opted for the truth. At this point someone was going to be pissed; it was just a matter of whom at this point.

“You know we have to relieve you of duty,” stated Elizabeth. “We can’t have an agent in the field losing mental capacity.”

Ethan stared at Julian. “I get you were trying to protect her, but this wasn’t the way to go
about it. She could have been taken tonight.”

“I’m aware
and that’s why I’m telling you now,” he stated, as he heard the ambulances coming up in the distance.

“
Agent Christensen, you’re off duty until you get some medical assistance. No gun and no dangerous field work. You can do research and paperwork in house.” Elizabeth stood. “I’m calling around tomorrow to get you into a VA facility. You’re getting worse and that’s just not acceptable for me as your friend. This doesn’t even have anything to do with me being your boss, but as your supervisor I am incredibly pissed!” Elizabeth stormed away to find Callen, and the agent that wrenched open the door. Maybe he saw something.

“I’m sorry,” she said
as she stood. “I’m fine,” Tori stated, pulling away from Julian. He was the last person she wanted touching her at that moment.

“Did you see him at all?” Ethan asked. “Hear anything? Smell anything?”

Tori wanted to weep. “Someone came up behind me, and I didn’t hear him coming.”

“I’ll go to the hospital with her,” offered Julian.

Ethan walked away. They’d come extra close to losing one of their own, and right now he wanted to make sure his wife was safe. In fact, they were done with the strip club. By now the killer had made the FBI and knew they were staking out the club. The killer wouldn’t be using ‘
The Pussy Cat Club
’ to find his victims anymore.

Walking around the building, he found Elizabeth in Callen’s jacket standing beside Cyra and Callen.

“Well Lyzee?” he asked, watching her.

“We
get out of here. The killer’s made the team. I’m simmering between furious and ready to chew off someone’s damn arm,” she muttered, taking a deep breath. “What did the agent see?” she nodded to him beside the building.

Callen shrugged. “He heard the bang over the com and then he saw a man trying to drag a woman away. By the time he shouted and crossed the lot, he was gone into the shadows. There was the screech of tires and then nothing.”

“Damn it!” Elizabeth began pacing. “I need to get back to work at the office.”

“What time do we regroup tomorrow?” asked Cyra.

Elizabeth shook her head. “Nine.”

Blackhawk hung up his phone. “Tech team is on its way to scrub for any evidence in a sweep. I wouldn’t bet on much.”

Rolling her shoulder, Elizabeth was still irritated. “At least we still have the fireman’s ax.”

“If he left it behind it must not be that important to him, or he’s an amateur.”

“He wasn’t planning on taking Tori. He was planning on taking a girl tonight. That’s why he only hit her in the head. He knew he couldn’t lure her away like he could a regular stripper.”

“You think he knew she was a fed?” asked Cyra.

“Yeah, I think he knew. More importantly, I think he knows we’re close.”

“Are we close?” Cyra inquired.

Elizabeth closed her eyes. “Nope. Which means you can go home Cyra. I’m going back to FBI West to work on the whiteboard until I get this figured out.”

“Are you sure? I can help out.
I figure once I stand naked in a room with someone, surrounded by strippers, I’ve bonded for life.”

Elizabeth
appreciated the woman’s attempt to make her laugh. “Go home, get out of those heels and relax. Why should we all be completely miserable?” She walked away.

“She’s just worked up about the killer,” reassured Blackhawk. “Head home and relax and we’ll start all over again tomorrow.
Elizabeth needs to regroup and refocus to get her balance again on the assignment.”

Callen and Ethan followed after her.

“So I guess this means we don’t get a private show at home tonight,” Whitefox said sighing. “No Native Lyzee lap dances.”

“Nope.
It looks like we’re going to sleep in our offices and watch her run herself into the ground.”

“Damn it. I really hate this killer,” stated Callen.

Blackhawk nodded. “Yeah, me too.”

It was a quick visit to the ER. Tori was checked out, and except for a few scrapes on her knees and hands, she was fine to be released. Her head hurt and her pride was pretty beat up. The other big issue was the man sitting next to her. Julian hadn’t said much the entire time, and that didn’t bode well with her. Not that it mattered. She was on her way to a VA hospital shortly. In fact, Elizabeth was probably dialing Walter Reed right now.

“We need to talk.”

Tori didn’t disagree with him. Only she needed to be the one that went first. “I’m angry, Julian. You promised me you wouldn’t say anything about the black outs.”

He glanced over at her. “Yeah, that’s the issue here. Me pointing out that you’re having black outs.”

“I don’t need your sarcasm,” she said angrily. “I get it. I’m defective, but I trusted you with my secret. I don’t need my bosses thinking I’m an even bigger mess than I am.”

“Tori, I kept the truth from them for a few days to buy you time. I’ve tried to keep you safe, offer you peace and help you through this. I just can’t get through to you.”

She stared out the window. “I don’t need you to get through to me, Julian. I see the picture clearly.”

He lost his temper. “Is that
right? You understand all this? Fantastic, Tori! Why don’t you share your insight with me then, because I don’t have a fucking clue! The only thing I know is that I’m in love with a woman that has no emotional attachment to me. I’m crazy for a woman that’s pulling away from me again. Tell me what to say and do, Tori. Just give me a direction here, because I’m completely lost on this one.”

She refused to look at him. “Just take me home, Julian. I really want to be alone.”

Julian gave up. “Okay Tori. You win.” He drove her to her house and pulled into the driveway, saying nothing more to her. What was left? Julian already professed his love, told her his feelings, and shared his heart. What more could he do or say to make her understand.

“Night,” she said, getting out of the car.

He watched her walk over to her front door. She bent down to pick up a fake rock with a key to get into her house. “Why not just leave the key taped to the door?” he mumbled to himself. Once she was inside, she turned and looked at him.

“Damn it, Tori,” he whispered. “How do I get through to you?” he said, and then did the only thing he could do. He backed his car out of her driveway and headed to FBI West.

Maybe working would help stop the continual ache growing in his chest. If not, he was pretty sure he would crawl to her house on his hands and knees begging for her to just say the words to him.

All he want
ed was to know if she loved him, even a tiny bit at this point. Anything would give him enough to push forward.

“Please Tori, figure this out for us,” he whispered into the silence of his car.

Life was so much easier before when he was living for the moment, and not carrying someone’s emotional baggage.

Damn it!

He knew this was going to happen, but it was definitely worse than he expected.

This didn’t just hurt his heart, it threatened to destroy it.

~ Chapter Nineteen ~

Elizabeth had changed out of her
stripper attire and was pacing back and forth across her office floor. Right now they had three possible suspects, but nothing substantial to tie them to the string of killings. 

If sh
e could just get a break, there was the chance to save more lives. Stopping in front of the whiteboard, she stood there and slipped into her own thoughts.

Ethan and Callen didn’t know how long she was standing there before they came into her office. Elizabeth was barefoot, her hair still straight, and her face
scrubbed clean of all the makeup.

While she was lost in the details, they simply waited for her to resurface.

It was like she knew they were there without looking.

“We have three possible suspects. The first one is Patrick Wells. His wife dies in a fire, and he inherits all her money.
The killer leaves behind a fire ax, typically carried by a fireman or a fire inspector. Next we have William Thomas. He works at a club as a bouncer and frequents another to score with women. We have him on video frequenting the club and fraternizing with the dead strippers. He was in the club before Lulu went missing and admits to a sexual relationship with her.”

Both men sipped their coffee, letting her talk it out.

“Then we have Fred Hillstone. He works at the club as the manager, and was well aware that his ‘girls’ were selling more than a lap dance in the back room. Fred was using the videos for his own pleasure, and coincidentally was off work the same time the killer makes his attempt.”

“Which one fits best, baby?” asked Blackhawk. Technically all three fit within his profile.
He didn’t tell her William Thomas handed over a valid alibi. Ethan wanted her to talk it out and find her bearings first.

“The only one that feels right is Patrick Wells. I don’t know why, but my gut says the other two are just creepy man pigs.”

Whitefox laughed at the term.

“I doubt that Willie could mastermind this all himself. He’s a big beefy guy. Why couldn’t he just scoop Tori up and carry her
away? There was visible evidence she was dragged, and so was ‘Sparkles’.”

Both men agreed.

“Julian is shorter than me, and he was able to pick Tori up in his arms easily. Willie is a great deal bigger than Julian. It just doesn’t fit for me.”

It
was time. “Willie has an alibi, and it’s airtight and backed up by a few witnesses. While we were at the club, I had an agent interview the bartender that was serving him all night. His only sin is getting shitfaced and driving home drunk.”

Elizabeth drew an
‘X’
through his name and took him off the list of suspects.

“Walk us through the evidence, maybe if you
talk it out something will pop,” Callen suggested.