Sacred Burial Grounds (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 2)) (68 page)

“Her watch has a compass
just like mine. Standard equipment for agents,” he said, lifting his wrist. Now, he was so grateful that the killer didn’t have the sense to take her watch.

“Well, she used it. The entire time he taunted her and tried to get her to give away her location. She just kept moving
silently. We had to cross about six miles before I noticed that she was slowing down, and he was getting closer.”

He was so proud of his wife and he couldn’t wait to just hold her and tell her that she was the toughest agent he’d ever met.

“When he was getting closer to her I had to intervene. I was afraid he’d see her and take a shot at her.”

“Thank you,” he said, meaning it.

Wyler sipped his tea. “At one point I was able to get ahead of her, and as she came down an incline I made my move. I grabbed her, and we slid into a crevasse that I use to hide from game until he passed us. Then I took her the right way out. It took quite a few hours. By then she was starting to wear down, and we had to slow down.”

Blackhawk watched as Doctor Leonard
, the ME, walked past them, nodding. He knew why the man was there, and it made him sick to think that the killer touched her. Refocusing he listened to his father, so the anger wouldn’t consume him.

“I have to say, she is very strong and determined. Not once did she cry or complain. Your wife is very disciplined.” Wyler had the utmost respect for her.

“It had to be hard for her. She hasn’t been feeling well and is pregnant,” added Timothy, not sure if his son was aware how hard she had to fight to get out of those woods. “I ask again, are you sure she isn’t Native? Your wife is the toughest outsider woman I have ever met.”

Blackhawk wanted to laugh, but
he just couldn’t find the energy. “I’m very proud of her,” he answered. “Elizabeth should be inducted into it, somehow. Just for today alone.”

“I would have camped overnight to give her a break, but she was adamant that she make it home to you. Elizabeth was willing to punish her body to get to you, Ethan. The entire time
, she was only worried about you and the baby.”

He rubbed his eyes in exhaustion. This had to be the most emotionally draining day of his li
fe. He knew his wife was tough and this just proved it. “Dad, can I talk to you, alone?” he asked, pointing to the back door of the cabin.

“Yes
Ethan. I’ll meet you out there.”

Blackhawk watched his
father leave, but before following he leaned down and kissed his grandfather on the cheek.

“You're a good boy, Ethan. I’m proud of you too,” Timothy said. “Now go talk to
Wyler.” As his grandson walked away, he looked towards the spare room where his granddaughter was being examined. It wasn’t lost on him that Elizabeth Blackhawk had successfully managed to heal the biggest hole in their family. It appeared the littlest Blackhawk was a miracle worker and gave them back what was once lost.

“You’re in love with her too, huh?” asked Callen
Whitefox, smiling at his grandfather.

Timothy looked over grinning. “Absolutely.”

Elizabeth had seen victims checked for trace many times in her life. When Christina entered the room, she was grateful to see a familiar face. Immediately, she asked her to call Doctor Leonard as a favor. She was going to need a rape kit and didn’t want to go to the hospital. With her husband outside the door and already stressed, she wasn’t going to make him more upset. It had been a shitty enough day for him. Elizabeth was back to being his armor and protecting his heart.

Christina understood and
made the call before they began the trace exam. She scraped her nails and used a sticky tape to pull any lint off her body. When she helped her remove the dress to bag it, they both noticed the dove above her heart.

“I need you to
get a photo of this and get it off me before Ethan finds it,” she said, softly. “This will put him over the edge.”

Christina didn’t have the heart to tell her that the killer already sent him pictures,
and her husband was well aware of the dove. It made her respect the woman even more. That even after all she went through, Elizabeth was more worried about her husband’s feelings. Many of the techs were surprised when their boss married her after less than a week in Salem, but she could see for herself their fears were unfounded. There was definite love between them both.

Elizabeth was glad that she still had her own bra and underwear on and they didn’t seem like they had been removed
and replaced haphazardly. Doctor Leonard opened the door, and she asked him to lock it.

“You needed me, Elizabeth?” Chris Leonard suspected
why she made the call, and as her friend he didn’t blame her one bit.

“Here’s the deal. He drugged me
, and I have no idea if he sexually assaulted me,” she said it nonchalantly, even though it scared and horrified her. “I don’t want to make a big deal in front Ethan. This will hurt him like nothing else, and I think he’s been through enough today.”

“You’ve lived through it too, Lyzee,” he said
, squeezing her hand. “You need to work through this too, as the victim.”

“I will, Chris.
I just don’t want this asshole to hurt Ethan any more today. I can bear it for now. Please help me protect him,” she begged, her eyes filling with tears and threatening to spill over.

“Okay,” he agreed.
Elizabeth didn’t need more stress, and this was the least he could do for her. “Christina, give her the gown. I’ll step out.”

“You can stay, Chris. J
ust turn around until I strip. I don’t want him getting suspicious.”

Doctor Leonard turned around. “I think he deserves to know. He is your husband, Lyzee.”

“I’ll tell him in the privacy of our own home. Not here, and not after the day we’ve both had. Ethan’s a smart man, Chris. I'm sure he already knows. It’s standard procedure for a female victim.” Elizabeth slipped out of her undergarments and Christina bagged them. “Doc, he drugged me with the Chloral Hydrate. Is that going to hurt the baby?” She was afraid to ask.

Christina looked up surprised. The bosses were having a
little Blackhawk.

“No, you should be good. It was only once, right?”

“I believe so.”

“I’ll get you some clothes from the tech truck, Elizabeth. Do you want me to stay with you?” she asked. “I’ll hold your hand.”

“Thank you, Christina.” She trusted the people she worked with and knew they’d make this as easy as possible. Elizabeth knew the procedure, and what he needed to know. “Chris, I had sex last night and this morning with my husband. I need the DNA run as fast as you can, so I can ease him into it.”

“I’ll have it to you within the hour,” he said. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

Ethan stood outside in the back yard with his father. There were many things to hate his father for
, and his whole life he swore he’d never forgive him. But in one day he managed to erase it all, and do something his son never thought possible- redeem himself. In his mind what he did for Elizabeth was worth swallowing all the pain from his childhood. Everything he lived through as a kid was nothing in comparison to losing his wife and child.

If there was one universal lesson
that he seemed to be learning by coming home, it was sometimes you had to just trust the universe when it placed the path before you. Fate had set it all in motion, like it had with his brother. Now he was going to forgive the man that destroyed his childhood.

“
I want to thank you for saving her, Dad.”

“You don’t have to thank me, Ethan,” he sighed.
“I didn’t do it for your gratitude. I did it because I didn’t want you to hurt anymore. I couldn’t bear thinking about you losing the love of your life.”

He looked over at his father
and for the first time he realized how old his father appeared. There were lines permanently etched around his eyes and mouth. Time went fast and already he was in his late fifties. “I do have to thank you, because you saved my wife and our unborn child.”

“Congratulations
on the pregnancy. I know you’ll make a great father.”

“I hope so,” he said, and he really did.

“You will be, Ethan. I can tell just by watching you, and how you treat your wife,” he paused. “She loves you very much.”

Blackhawk knew how blessed he was to have a woman that loved him as much as she did. “I want you to be part of our child’s life,” he
said, thinking it would be more painful to say it, but it wasn’t. Not after today and not after he thought about it. He’d made the man suffer plenty of years for his sins, and it was time to forgive him and work on their relationship. He wanted to be able to show his child how to be a son, a father and a man.

Ethan Blackhawk
was going to lead by example.

Wyler sat down on the grass and laid back to look at the stars. “Elizabeth told me about the killer, and how he’s my son.”

He mimicked his position in the grass and just allowed the man to get it all off his chest. Sometimes you just had to listen, even if you knew it was going to hurt to know the truth.

“I told your wife everything I know, and she told me to have this conversation with you. I think it’s time we discussed this, now that we’re both men. There are some things you don’t know about, like what happened between
us. I think that it’s time we brought them out in the open and talked about your mom.”

Ethan Blackhawk was willing to listen. He owed this man his life. He saved his family and in the process saved him. “I’ll listen,
Dad. I may not agree with your choices or how you handled life. But I think I’m done holding a grudge.”

“I understand, son.
” Wyler tried the endearment out, and when the man didn’t protest he felt hope.

“I
want to move forward and heal, Dad. I need to for the sake of my family.”

Wyler couldn’t believe the words coming from his mouth, and he couldn’t believe that he was going to get a
second chance. Maybe by the end he could have his son back. At least one of his boys for now, and possibly he’d get to see his grandson grow up. Hope blossomed inside him as love started to unfurl and become a reality not just a dream.

When Doctor Leonard was done
, Christina ran out to the tech truck and got her boss a pair of sweats and an FBI t-shirt. They always had them onboard in case of contamination. When she returned, she watched her boss carefully, unsure if she should say anything to the woman.

“Spill it, Christina,” she said
, pulling the clothes on and waiting for her to get it off her chest.

“I’m glad you’re safe
Elizabeth!” She quickly hugged Elizabeth tight. “Welcome back, boss!”

Elizabeth patted her arm. “I’m hard to kill, Christina,” she said winking. “Can I trust you to keep my pregnancy a secret?” she asked the woman. “You and Chris are the only two that know.”

“I won’t say a word, but congrats on the little Blackhawk!” Christina gave her boss privacy to get into the sweats.

Elizabeth finished dressing and just wanted to go home.

Gabe knocked on the door. “Hey beautiful! Just can’t stay out of trouble, can you?” he asked, the fear in him subsiding once he saw her. “I see you did a number on your arms.”

“Arrow wound
here, and pickers from those wicked bushes. Funny how they don’t hurt when you have a homicidal maniac chasing you down, but later they’re a bitch,” she said, trying to smile. “Can I fill out a report tomorrow, Gabe? I just want to go home and crash for a while. I don’t really have four more hours in me tonight to do paperwork.”

“Just email me the details when you can, I’ll do the paperwork for you.”

Elizabeth stared. “Holy shit. You’re going to do my paperwork?”

“Yes I am, but if you don’t want me to…”

She laughed. “All yours.”

“I just came in to tell you that we found his home and his identity, Elizabeth. Now we just have to find him
and bring him in.”

“Who is he?”

“Deputy Thomas Mason. He works for the Black Falls sheriff’s department.”

“
It figures that the boss is an asshole, and one of his incompetent men is a killer.”

“I have a BOLO out on him,
and he can’t hide for long.”

“Good,” she smiled.

“Can I hug you?” he asked. He knew they just did a rape kit on her. He didn’t want to upset her.

“Yeah,” she hugged him and
relaxed, leaning into his body. “Did you tell Livy why you’re here?”

“Not yet. I prefer you not to ever mention it either,” he said
, laughing. “If that’s possible.”

Elizabeth snorted,
walking away from her boss. “You’re so screwed,” she said snickering, as she walked to her new family and sat between them. It wasn’t easy for her to admit, but she did it for protection. Right now, she wanted to feel safe, and the men gave her a little bit of what the killer stole away. Plus they looked like they needed to hover over her.