True Love Lost (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 3)) (24 page)

“
Deputy Asshole decided it would be funny to hide in the cooler in a Halloween mask and fake plastic knife, trying to scare Desdemona. Then I kicked the shit out of him and could have killed him!” she said, pointing at Deputy Bobby Lee Tills.

Both men lunged
, much like rabid dogs looking to chew on a victim. The only thing that stopped them was the EMTs that blocked their patient from getting more injuries.

“You are fucking dead,” growled Blackh
awk, as he reached for the man’s throat, almost getting his hands on his neck.

Callen
glanced over at Desdemona, and she looked scared to death. He went to her, and pulled him against his body. “Are you okay, honey?” he asked, stroking her hair as she buried her face in his shoulder.

“I think so,” she mumbled. “Elizabeth got bumped in the face
during the fight and won’t let the EMT’s check her out.”

Both men moved towards Elizabeth.

“I’m okay,” she said, touching her lip and scowling at Doctor Adare for ratting her out. “I bit it when I caught his elbow to the chin.”

Blackhawk touched her lower lip, and then pushed her towards his brother to keep safe
, while he killed the deputy.

Callen pulled her against his body and immediately began inspecting her lip. Since the serial killer on the Rez, both men were super protective of Elizabeth. He held both women tight and dropped a kiss on her
injured lip. 

Sheriff James Duffy
interjected himself between his deputy and the FBI agent, understanding their anger. “We’ll work this out,” he said calmly, as he tried to stop Blackhawk from killing the deputy strapped to the gurney.

“Work it out?” Blackhawk raged, looking over the shoulder of the
sheriff at Bobby Lee Tills. “The man came after my pregnant wife, and in my world that means I kill him now,” he growled. “And worry about the little details later.”

Deputy Tills jumped when Blackhawk lunged again
.

The only thing that calmed Ethan down was his wife wrapping her arms around his waist from behind.
Blackhawk turned, pulling his wife into his arms to check her for any additional injuries she wasn’t telling him about. When he was sure she was unscathed, he glared over at Deputy Tills. Elizabeth had beaten the hell out of him. His face was swelling, and he looked like he had a broken nose. “I’m going to cut your fucking balls off Tills and feed them to you!” he growled, pointing at the man, as he held his wife protectively.

“I’m sorry about this, Agents. Sincerely sorry for my
deputy’s behavior, and what he’s done. It’s inexcusable, and he’ll be reprimanded. I promise.”

“Reprimanded?” Whitefox was appalled that the
sheriff thought it was going to end there. He’d tried to scare the women, and that was just unacceptable. “We both know that’s not good enough, Sheriff Duffy.”

Desdemona clung to his side, and she was finally starting to feel her heartbeat return to normal.

“He tried to assault two FBI agents. That’s a federal offense, and I’m going to throw in the weapons charge for shits and giggles,” added Blackhawk.

“It was plastic,” whined Tills, “I just wanted to w
ipe the smug look off the bitch’s face for calling me a redneck hillbilly!” He realized it was a bad choice of words.

Both men lunged again,
but this time the women held them back.

“I’m going to kill you after my brother does
for calling her that!” Whitefox growled at the man for using derogatory words to describe Elizabeth.

Tills looked nervous.

“When he’s patched up, Sheriff Duffy, he’s being transported back to FBI West and charged with felony assault with a weapon, because he’s a smart ass and likes making comments, I’m tossing in felonious stalking and lying in wait for the women.”

“You can’t do that!” objected Tills.

Blackhawk was seething and feeling homicidal. “You could have hurt my wife and child! You’re lucky I’m taking you in at all!”

“Get him out of here,” motioned the
sheriff. “Quick, before we have a homicide on our hands.” 

Immediately, Ethan’s attention was on his wife and the baby growing in her belly. Gently he stroked his child as he gazed into her eyes, seeking the truth.
“You didn’t get hit in the stomach did you baby?” he asked his wife, concern overwhelming him. “I’ll kill him if he even touched our child.” And he meant every word of it.

“No
Ethan, Baby Blackhawk is completely safe,” she said wrapping her arms around his neck and nuzzling his cheek. He was vibrating with anger, and she just wanted to alleviate some of the tension. “It’s okay, Ethan,” she whispered in his ear, until his body relaxed marginally.

“Can we get out of here for a while,” whispered Desdemona. “I think I need to just get out of here
and regain my bearings. I feel really unsteady,” she said, softly.

Elizabeth looked over, worried about her friend. She
was pale and shaky.

“Come on,” answered Whitefox, as he bundled her into her coat. “How about we go get you some tea?”

“I think I need a bourbon.”

Ethan Blackhawk helped his wife into her parka. “When I get back, you better have
him ready for transport, because if not, I will arrest you for interfering with a federal agent’s duty in apprehending a criminal.” He wasn’t screwing around. This was way past crossing a line.

“Can we talk this through Agent?” he asked, hoping to keep his deputy from going to federal prison.
“Go get lunch. There’s a diner down the road. ‘
Cup of Joe’
, they serve alcohol too. I’ll meet you in my office. We can all calm down and talk this out rationally.”

Blackhawk was already calming down
now that he knew both women were safe. “We’ll be back in two hours, Sheriff.” He was back in control and in director mode.

James Duffy
nodded, and walked out of the room frustrated as hell, wondering how he was going to fix this.

Now he had even more of a mess to contend
with in town. Two FBI agents ready to beat the hell out of his deputy, a wrecked basement, a killer on a rampage, and a brewing migraine. Today was a really bad day to be sheriff of Red River. Maybe if he was lucky, the mayor would let him resign.

Yeah, probably not. Who’d want to take over this mess?
Nobody in their right mind would want to deal with this hassle.

Apparently, he was crazy.

In the Denali, no one spoke.

Both men were a frazzled mess over what could have happened if Elizabeth wasn’t really good at protecting herself
and those around her.

Elizabeth sat beside her husband and was still holding his hand, reassuringly. What she really wanted to do was roll her shoulder, because it hurt like a bitch. The last face shot she gave Bobby Lee Tills cost her. Now there was an ache beginning in the joint, and moving down her arm.
Elizabeth hoped he didn’t think to ask about it or Ethan Blackhawk might lose his damn mind.

Desdemona sat practically in Callen Whitefox’s lap, as he held her close and stroked her hair.
Being close to him was cathartic and maddening at the same time now that the adrenaline was dissipating.

Finally
, Ethan Blackhawk let out a deep breath. “I’m afraid to ask because it’s going to get me angry again, but I guess I’m obligated to request the details. What happened?”

“I know that sigh. That’s the ‘Elizabeth can’t I leave you alone for an hour’ sigh. I
want to go on the record right now and say in my defense, that I was sitting on the counter reading a tech report. I didn’t leave the building, I didn’t provoke a stranger, and I didn’t even think anything was going to happen. Desdemona was finishing an autopsy. We were just working and minding our own damn business.”

“And?”

Desdemona continued. “I just finished the fourth autopsy. My neck was killing me from staring down for five hours straight, and I wasn’t paying attention. I pushed the cart into the cooler, and there he was. He came out at me swinging that knife. There was no way we could know it wasn’t real.”

“And then?”

“Your wife jumped in front of me to protect me, and beat him up.”

Elizabeth snickered until her husband looked ov
er at her and lifted an eyebrow in displeasure. She knew what he was thinking. His face said it clearly.

A pregnant woman should have a little more common sense.

“You should have shot him.”

Elizabeth stared at her husband. “He was wielding a foot long knife, and Desdemona was blocking
the way. I’m an excellent shot Ethan, but even I can make a mistake. What if I hit her?”

Whitefox pulled her closer. Just the idea made him sick to his stomach. He cradled her cheek with the palm of his hand and offered her comfort.
Then he felt sicker that Elizabeth risked her own life.

“Okay, so you couldn’t shoot him. I’ll buy that,” said Blackhawk, watching his brother in the rearview mirror. “Please continue Desdemona.”

Doctor Adare licked her bottom lip as she tried to focus. “Elizabeth ran at him and knocked him away from me, and she had all his focus from there on out. She’s pretty fast for a pregnant woman.”

“Thank you.”

Blackhawk looked over at his wife and gave her the look.

“I was doing my job.” And keeping her promise to Callen
, but Ethan didn’t need that piece of information.

“When he went at her, she booted him in the gut,
and that’s when he clipped her in the face, but it was completely a lucky shot.”

“Yeah it was,” she mumbled.

“Elizabeth countered with this super painful looking thing with her elbow to his throat, punched him in the face-twice, and then I think when he still wouldn’t go down she kicked him in the groin.” Desdemona was now starting to laugh. It was that laughter you got when your adrenaline finally stopped and you came down off the fear high.

Elizabeth cracked her knuckles and tried to not
snicker. “What?” she asked innocently, when her husband stared at her again.

“
I don’t think the deputy expected her to have cowboy boots on, and the shot to the groin was the one that took him to the floor.”

Both men cringed. A family jewel shot was painful, but one with
cowboy boots on had to be doubly wicked.

“Then,” Desdemona continued, “on his way down he
smacked his head off the counter, and she stomped on his solar plexus. But I’m rather sure the groin shot was the end of it all, but getting the wind knocked out of him twice was probably to prove a point.”

Blackhawk ran his hands through his hair
, not sure if he should be laughing or yanking it all out.

“That’s when he started crying and begging.”

Now both women were snickering. “He wept like a baby,” added Elizabeth. “It was very gratifying.”

“Today I earned my first gray hair,” commented her husband. “You and Desdemona aren’t allowed to play together anymore.”

“Hey!” interjected Elizabeth. “I was just doing my job. Nutjob, knife and damsel in distress.”

“Callen and I managed to work alone in a room and no one called ambulances or for help once.
In fact, we even managed to safely exit the building to get lunch. Again, you two are not playing together alone anymore.”

Whitefox laughed
. “In theory you’d think that plan was going to work, but there’s going to be a huge problem with keeping them apart, Ethan,” he said to his brother.

H
e looked up in the mirror confused.

“Know the house right behind yours that you can see from your bedroom?”

Blackhawk shrugged. “Yeah, what about it?”

Whitefox pointed at the woman leaning against him.

“Hi neighbor!” she said brightly, hoping they wouldn’t be disappointed.

Elizabeth turned and grinned at her new friend.
“Nice,” she smiled, offering her friend a fist bump. “I have an accomplice next door.”

Desdemona accepted it, laughing and relaxing.

“
Great and here I always thought home was the safe place where nothing can happen.” Blackhawk started laughing. How could he not?

“Spiders and flies,” she said, winking at her friend.

B
oth women burst into laughter at their private joke, and the look on Ethan and Callen’s faces.

Both men were pretty sure the women had lost their minds.

Sheriff James Duffy sat in his office with one bitch of a headache. There were five dead men, a deputy that tried to assault two women, and two FBI agents that were on the warpath.

Literally.