Fire Burns Hot ((An FBI/ Romance Thriller~ (Book 5))) (8 page)

Ethan Blackhawk didn’t know what to say
that didn’t start with a string of profanity. “If you excuse me, I have a call to make. Then I may be hopping the first flight back to strangle her.”

“You can’t leave. You have mandatory meetings, Ethan. Send someone else to kill her.”
Gabe kept laughing, and was infinitely grateful his wife had left the FBI before they started having kids. He felt bad for the man, because containing Elizabeth was like a full time job. Blackhawk was damn good at his job, and excelled at many things, but handling Elizabeth was way out of his league.

                                 *    *     *

Elizabeth observed the unload
ing of the dead bodies from the back of the transport vehicle. Once the bags were opened, the acrid smell of cooked flesh filled the room and suddenly her stomach began to lurch.

This was a first. Never in her ten plus years in the FBI
, or as a Sheriff had she ever puked on a crime scene or in autopsy. It never happened because Elizabeth had an iron clad gut.

“If you’ll excuse me for
a second, Doctor,” she said, walking away as calmly as possible.

Chris Leonard was puzzled. Her skin looked pale and her voice didn’t sound right. “Okay, Lyzee.
We’ll wait for you.”

Eliz
abeth cleared the autopsy suite and ran for the bathroom. Once inside, she proceeded to toss her lunch. When she was completely done, she stood up and wiped her mouth. Looking down at the incoming call from her husband on her phone, Elizabeth found it all too funny.

The man had some wickedly ironic timing.

“Well hell. I do believe I need a damn pregnancy test.”

                               *    *     *

Agent Christensen walked the perimeter with Christina, searching for anything that could be construed as evidence. The
y had already found a few wrappers and other pieces of debris. It was going to be hard to tell if it happened before the crime scene or after. For all they knew, the wind could have blown it from down the road.

“Anything?” Tori asked the tech.

Christina pleasantly smiled back at her. “Nothing I wouldn’t normally expect. We’ll keep looking. You never know what the local CSI missed.”

Tori nodded. “I feel like I should be doing something. What can I help you with?”

She laughed. “You’re all nervous, Agent. What has you all riled up?”

The agent looked around. “Working with Director Blackhawk. She has me all out of sorts.”

Christina started laughing. “Welcome to the world of every tech on staff. The boss lady is tough, but you get used to it.” She glanced up. “I’ll let you in on a secret.”

Tori lifted her eyebrow.

“Elizabeth Blackhawk is actually really sweet when you get past the prickly boss exterior.” Christina thought back to being in the burn ward, and how she came and visited her every day until she was released.

She stared at her like she was crazy. Was this the same woman that she watched get shot point blank range and then blow the brains out of the suspects head? Sweet? Really?

“Uh, yeah. Anyway, what can I help you with?” Tori continued.

Christina shrugged. “I need some samples of the ground where the body was found burning. I want to double check for
chemicals. I don’t want to overlook anything. It tends to make the boss cranky.”

Tori pulled out gloves. “Well, let’s
do our best to not piss them off this close to Christmas.”

                                 *    *     *

When Elizabeth didn’t answer her phone, Ethan began to panic. Immediately, he called for backup and dialed his brother. When Callen picked up on the second ring, he blurted into the phone. “Where’s Elizabeth!”

Now Whitefox
could feel the wave of worry. “How the hell should I know? Isn’t she at FBI West? You can’t find her?” His heart started pounding in his chest.

Ethan told him what he just found out.

“I swear I’ll kill her,” mumbled Whitefox. “She’s out in the God damn field?”

“Yeah, and not answering her phone.” Ethan hated the sick feeling that was overwhelming him. They’d come close to losing her a few times, and her being out of contact scared the hell out of him.

“I’ll try and call her.”

Whitefox hung up the phone, and started dialing her number. When he got his hands on that gorgeous body of hers, he was going to chain her to his side.

Once and for all!

                                 *    *     *

Back in autopsy, Elizabeth stood far enough away as Chris Leonard
as he peeled back the charred skin of the victim. Elizabeth stood there silently observing, praying she wouldn’t be sick.

Chris was having a hard time focusing.
His concern was the woman standing in the room with him as he began the process. She didn't seem like herself. “Can you clear the techs in the room?” he asked his lab assistant as he stared at Elizabeth. “I need a few seconds with the director in private.”

“Sure thing Doc,”
the girl answered, hustling them out of the room.

“What’s up, Chris?” asked Elizabeth
as she hopped up onto an unused table. Her stomach was still sick, and she was hoping she didn’t retch in autopsy. The men wouldn’t ever let her forget it if she did.

“Remember back in Cypress Grove when I called you a liability and you were mad at me?”

How could she forget? “Yeah, why?”

How to approach this? “You told me to pull you aside and talk to you privately if something
was bothering me, and I guess that’s what I’m doing.”

“What’s the burr under your saddle, Chris?” Now she was concerned.

“You look sick. You’re standing as far from the bodies as humanly possible, and you aren’t yourself today. What’s up?”

Just at that moment, Callen called, and Elizabeth sent it to voice mail. “I’m fine, Chris.”

He stared at her, knowing her well enough to see that was bullshit.

“Okay, are you a
sking as my friend or my doctor? You know, the one that did my rape kit, advised me through my pregnancy, and checks out my shoulder when it’s jacked up?”

“Trained medical official.”

Elizabeth thought about it. “I just tossed my cookies when I smelled cooked corpses.”

That surprised him.
“Wow, you have a cast iron stomach. Eleven years and that’s not something that thought I’d ever hear from you.”

Elizabeth shrugged and didn’t say another
word, letting the man put it all together. After all, he was a doctor.

Chris Leonard knew where this was heading, because he was a doctor. “Did you take a pregnancy test yet?”

Elizabeth shook her head.

The friend in him kicked in and took over. Chris pulled off his gloves and went for a needle. “Roll up your sleeve and we’ll have the results
by the end of the day.”

She did as he said. “I’d like to keep this really quiet, Chris. I think Ethan and Callen should be the first to know.”

“I won’t say a word, and I’ll run the tests as soon as I’m done with the autopsies,” he answered.

“Please don’t even allude to it, Chris. If this gets out, the guys will be hurt they weren’t
included.”

“Lyzee, you know we’ve been friends a long time. I know when it’s time to bust your ass, and when it’s not. This is a serious matter.” Chris slowly inserted the needle into her arm and drew the vial of blood. “I’ll text you later when I get the results. Meanwhile, get out of here. I can do these autopsies alone. Head back up to your office or home, and I’ll email you the results.”

“Bless you,” she said, patting his cheek. “Thanks Chris.” Elizabeth rolled down her sleeve. “I owe you one.”

Now he laughed. “I’
ll keep that in mind.”

                                 *    *     *

Now it was officially time to panic and lose his mind. When
Callen called Elizabeth, and she dumped his call into voicemail became sick to his stomach. Whitefox was just about to call his brother and tell him to call out a search party, when his tablet beeped at him. All this technology was new to him, but he did know what the beep meant. Elizabeth was trying to contact him through a video conference call. Grabbing the tablet, he hit the accept button, and was able to breathe again, once he saw her face.

“Elizabeth!”

The panicked look on his face made her nervous. “What?” she asked, looking behind her, just in case. No, everything was normal on her bookshelf and there were no knife wielding maniacs hiding out.

“Ethan and I were both trying to reach you. We called and you didn’t answer.”

Now she started to laugh. “Darlin’ you realize I’m singlehandedly trying to run FBI West here, right?” Just then her tablet beeped, signaling Ethan was also logging into their video call. They used it often when they were in their offices or away on assignments. As Ethan’s face came into view, it said it all.

“Elizabeth! I swear you’re going to be the death of me yet!” stated her hus
band.

Now she looked confused. “You both realize that I can’t always get to the phone immediately. I’m running
an office here with lots of employees. I have hand cramps from signing paperwork, and may need medical attention shortly.”

Ethan started to relax. His wife
was sitting in her desk chair and looked safe and definitely not out in the field. “Sorry baby, but when I lose my mind, I completely lose it.”

“Angel, did you take a field assignment?” asked Whitefox, getting right to the point. He needed to get into a meeting in a few minutes, and needed to find out what the hell was going on back at FBI West.

“I see the big feathered boss bird sicked you both on me, huh?” she asked, crossing her arms.

“Yeah, I spoke to Gabe.”

Callen confessed next. “Then Ethan called me.”

Elizabeth laughed. They both had exactly the same look on their faces. “I did take a field assignment. Someone is lighting up women, and I figured I’d help out since we’re short staffed for the holidays.”

Both men’s cheeks twitched at the same time and it almost made her laugh out loud.

“Boys, you do realize
that I NEVER stand over the two of you while you’re working, making you feel incompetent. Right now I have it under control. Agent Christensen is at the last scene with the tech team, sweeping for anything the police CSI may have missed. I have five bodies in house being rechecked and autopsied again.”

“You realize I’m not really thrilled that you took a field assignment and didn’t bother to inform me,” stated her husband. “I had to hear it from Gabe.”

Now her temper was rising. Instead of saying a word, she simply picked up the name plate on her desk and held it up for her husband to see. “Oh, lookee here, Cowboy. It clearly states Director Elizabeth Blackhawk, not Ethan’s wife; funny. I hope that’s not one hell of a typo, or I’ve been bustin’ my ass for absolutely nothing.”

Callen jumped in as mediator. “It’s okay, let’s not have a battle. What’s done is done. Elizabeth, what are your plans for the rest of tonight?”

Elizabeth focused on Callen. “I have the files; I planned on going home shortly, reading over them and then having dinner. I was going to have a glass of wine, sit on the couch, cuddle my son and look at the Christmas tree. Alone or possibly if Wyler wasn’t too busy he could keep me company.”

Both men felt guilty that they weren’t there,
and it was that close to the holidays.

“I’ll be home soon, a
ngel,” reassured Whitefox.

Ethan sighed. “I have a flight Friday night after my last meeting. I’ll be home late, but before the weekend.
That gives us plenty of time for wine, lights, cuddling and the tree.” He didn’t mention that he was probably going to miss the company party.

Elizabeth nodded. “I’ll call you both later,” and she logged out of the video conference call.
At that moment she was too irritated to continue the call. If there was one thing that set her off, it was being treated like a child.

Callen stared at his brother. “Bro, you have to
rein it in. You know you can’t boss her around. The spitefulness kicks in and bad things happen. Remember the bullet to the Kevlar lesson?”

Blackhawk
was well aware. “When are you done there?”

“I can be out of here tomorrow afternoon.
I planned originally for Friday night, but I’m not willing to leave her alone until then. Plus, don’t we have a function coming up?”

“
Yes, but I can’t get out any sooner. Gabe would know why I’m bailing and he’d skin me alive. I can’t give him ammo on why married couples can’t run the office together.”