Pledging to Die (An FBI/Romance Thriller Book 11) (35 page)

He figured why not. Maybe he could come up with some lame ass excuse to tell Johanna. This was going to be a mess.

He could feel it.

“Count me in.”

“That’s awesome,” Arman stated. “We can get to know you, since you’re part of our family.”

That sounded so very unappealing.

“Why the hell not?” he replied, faking it.

Oh, Brody knew why. He’d rather be in bed with Johanna. That’s why.

       
         
* * *
  B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x   * * *

Callen ordered dinner, and Ethan got all the papers printed out that they would need to start going through. In a few minutes, they were going to be elbow deep in a profile.

Elizabeth was starting to chip away at the bullshit, and soon she’d get down to the truth beneath it all.

It was a matter of time.

When she came into the room, she was wearing one of Callen’s t-shirts, but Ethan’s boxers. She’d been doing that as of late, and it gave them both a rush of heat.

“I’m ready,” she said, sitting on the edge of the couch. “We have a lot to go through.”

They were well aware.

When she yawned, the men kept it to themselves. They were all tired, since they didn't sleep the night before. If they could get through this, maybe they could talk Elizabeth into bed.

Only not to rest.

“Ethan, tell me all about this sicko,” she began, getting out her markers. The smell offered her reassurance that she could do this once more.

“I’m going with a man on this. It’s not so much because the victims have had sex beforehand, but because of other things,” he stated.

“Like?”

“They were transported. If you look at the dump sites, they had to be carried. With Page Pinel, she was dragged through the trees to the pond. A woman isn’t going to do that. She wouldn’t be able to.”

He had a point.

“Someone strong had to carry the women, and we still haven’t found the one missing victim. That means she was taken someplace, and again, likely carried.”

Callen made notes, as he voiced his opinion. “The one girl had a broken neck. Could you do that?” he asked Elizabeth.

She thought about it. “Yeah, I probably could to a woman, but not a man. I’m relatively strong, but if my victim was as big as you guys, not likely. A college girl couldn’t do that.”

So, she made the note on the board. She was going with Ethan’s profile on this one.

“Why is he doing this?”

Ethan leaned back in his chair. “He’s going to have an issue with women in authority. You’ll find that somewhere in his past, a woman pissed him off.”

She laughed. “Well, there is about half our suspects from the frat. Each one of them thinks that men are far superior.”

He was well aware.

“I don’t think it’s them.”

Callen looked up. “Really? I could see that douchebag doing all of this. In fact, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if Arman was behind it.”

Elizabeth was on the fence.

Obviously, from the look on her face, they could tell that. When she didn't say anything, Ethan urged her on.

“It’s the fact that we have that dandruff and that the last victim had no DNA left behind. I don’t know if he’s screwing with us, or something more.”

Blackhawk got that. “It could go either way.”

“And your gut?”

“He’s a sicko in his own rights, but I don’t think he’s smart enough to kill these women. We have a predator. Yes, he’s one, but this person is lying in wait and taking them. He’s trying to blend in, and Arman is flamboyant.”

Elizabeth wasn’t sure. “We don’t know that he’s not doing this after he uses them. I really think that basement is going to be key.”

He agreed. “Unfortunately, without a warrant, or reason to enter, you can’t run anything in there until they’re out and the university claims it.”

She knew they were going to need Brody to find them something.

Callen couldn’t help it, but he really needed to know. “What about the organs? What the hell is that all about?”

“We may have a collector. In his mind, he might believe that he has to harvest parts of them. In some Native lore, when you kill an enemy, you keep a part to recall the battle. Maybe this guy is doing the same thing.”

“I hate this. I just picture some wacked out man, dressed as a woman, trying to rebuild her love.”

Callen shuddered. “Yeah, been there, and that was wrong on so many levels.”

Other than that, Ethan didn't have a clue. “If we have a psychopath, then there may not be a reason behind it. If he’s hearing voices in his head, then we can’t gauge that. So, we need to go with what we do know.”

“Which is?”

“He’s methodical, easily angered, and arrogant. When he’s killing them, he’s taking their lives, but also something they need. We have a missing heart, liver, stomach, lungs, and now kidneys. You can’t live without any of them.”

She dropped down on the arm of the couch. When Callen went to answer the door, Elizabeth watched him. “Will he be okay if we have another Doctor Frankenstein?” she whispered.

Ethan glanced over at his brother as he was paying for the pizza. “Yeah, he’s over it. I think what he carries on his shoulders is the whole Desdemona thing. We should be good.”

That made her happy. The last thing they needed was one of their team falling apart. She relied on Ethan and Callen to help navigate through the mess.

Callen returned with their pizza, and they all dug in.

“So, we need to look for a dominant man who hates women,” she stated around a mouthful of hot pizza.

“He’s not going to make attachments, so you’ll notice while he has friends, people he trusts, he won’t have a babe of his own. He won’t be able to.”

“Because he can’t get it up?” she asked.

Ethan laughed. “No, this time I think it’s going to consume him so much, that it becomes his focus. He might become paranoid as we start to close in.”

“Damn! Are you sure that it has nothing to do with Arman Smithfield? This all sounds like him.”

Yeah, it really did, and that was the issue. It was almost too perfect, like the killer was setting a scene.

Ethan spoke up, “I think that one of the deciding factors that it wasn’t them was the shed. It’s in their back yard. I know we thought that Arman was trying to point at him, making him look guilty, so we’d think it couldn’t possibly be him, but that was too convenient. Not even he would be that stupid to pull it off there.”

“So, we have someone setting him up?”

He shrugged. “I’m not quite there yet. I’m still trying to work through the small details. I understand why the drugs. They want to control the women. To them, taking away that fight is alluring to them. You picked it up today when you said sex with all of them would be about thirty seconds. They’re horny college boys. I’m betting they lack finesse.”

She didn't doubt that.

“Well, I prefer a little more foreplay in my sex fest,” she said, taking a bite of her pizza. “What?” she said, noticing that Callen was staring at her.

“Just thinking,” he offered.

She couldn’t help it. The steamy look was making the heat pool low in her body. The men beside her were Elizabeth’s weakness. One look, and she was a goner.

This was proof.

Ethan pushed on with the profile. “He’s going to be white. All the women were Caucasian with the exception of the last victim. Page was mixed race.”

“Would that matter to him?”

“Chris believes that he still had sex with her, so not likely. He still took her kidneys, and then dumped her with the others.”

“Great. He’s not racist. That’s always good to know that he’s an equal opportunity killer.”

When she dropped the crust of her pizza into the box and stood, the men curiously watched her.

“Where are you going?” Callen asked.

“I’m going to take a walk,” she began. “I need to clear my head.”

Ethan started laughing at the look on Callen’s face. She’d already caught them off guard earlier when she didn't lose it, and now she was teasing them. Elizabeth was flushed, he could see the vee of her breasts, and the pink was moving upward.

She wasn’t thinking about a stroll, despite what she said.

Getting up, he tugged her toward him. When she didn't put up a fight, he tossed her over his shoulder. “I say we walk into the bedroom,” he offered.

Callen started rubbing his hands together. She did say that she liked a little more foreplay in her sex. Well, here it was.

Elizabeth laughed, hanging upside down over his shoulder. When it came down to it, there was no way she’d say no. She loved being trapped between them.

When she felt the world turning around, she knew that the bed would be her final resting place. As she stared up at Ethan and Callen, they began stripping out of their clothes.

There was nothing more erotic in the entire world. She watched as Ethan pulled his shirt off, revealing all the tattoos across his body. There were more than two dozen, and each one made her wet and wild. When his hands went to the buckle of his belt, she stopped him.

His heart pounded in his chest.

Callen got the buttons undone, and dropped his shirt to the floor. When her hand found the top of his jeans, his breathing quickened.

“Let me help you out,” she offered, using both hands to set them free. When they popped out of their jeans, already hard and erect, Elizabeth stroked them each with her warm palms.

The men moaned.

“I can’t wait to taste you both. It’s been so long,” she murmured, first taking Ethan in her mouth. With the long slow glide of her tongue, she worshipped him. As Elizabeth tore him down, she fondled Callen not wanting him to feel left out.

This was one of the best things in life, and she was getting to share it with the men she loved.

When Ethan popped free of her mouth, he immediately groaned to protest that she had stopped orally pleasuring him. He watched with midnight blue eyes as Elizabeth went to work on his brother. Her hand slid over his slicked erection, promising more delicious things to come.

He couldn’t wait.

Callen stared down his body at the woman kneeling on their bed. She was working him hard, and he loved every second of it. While she slid him in and out of her mouth, Elizabeth didn't hesitate to offer him that delicious kiss of pain. When her teeth slid up and down his erection, Callen wanted to shout in pleasure.

“Oh God,” he muttered, as she tormented him.

“More,” Ethan begged, craving her mouth back on him. While he loved his brother, he needed to feel Elizabeth touching him. It had been a few days, and that longing was building. He didn't get the rough sex in a sleazy motel room.

Suddenly, he wanted it.

Something in him snapped, and instead of being calm and gentle, he took a play from Callen’s book. With all the men around them checking out his wife and hinting to their sex life…well, it was more than he could take.

Oh, he was going to show her wild in the sack.

Pulling free of her hand, he shoved her roughly back onto the bed. The surprise registered not only on her face, but on Callen’s. He’d been in the middle of one hell of a blow job.

“Ethan,” she said, staring up at him.

Yanking her clothes off her body, he roughly pulled at her bra. When it was free, he forcefully rolled her over to show her how it was going to be.

When her arms were restrained with the lacy material, Callen actually moaned.

“Holy shit! We’re taking her! I can’t wait.”

Ethan had set the pace for this little mating. It was going to be rough, hard, and memorable. There was just too much need pumping though his body to be gentle.

He wanted so much more from her.

From them.

When Ethan rolled her over, Callen yanked the boxers from her body. She was bare beneath, and that made him very happy. With eager fingers, he slid them through the wetness as Ethan yanked her legs apart.

The sound from her was a gasp of surprise mixed with so much pleasure. When Callen forcefully drove his fingers into the wetness, she bowed wantonly on the bed, offering herself up to her men.

“You’re going to beg,” Ethan stated, staring down at her naked body bound on their bed. As he moved toward her, Callen stopped him.

“Wait. I want to do something.”

At that point, Elizabeth wouldn’t stop them. She loved the men in that room, and their sex lives were pretty damn hot. If Callen had plans, she was going to be the one who benefited in the end. They were very giving lovers, and incredibly creative when they wanted to fool around.

“What?” Ethan asked, trying to contain the lust while his brother added some spice to the mix.