Page 43 of Chaos has a Name (An FBI Romance/Thriller #66)

“A brother. We don’t know where he is. I mean, we know, since we’ve heard from him, but we don’t know where he lays his head at night.

He’s big into wandering the world and all that crazy shit.

He’s a weirdo of sorts. Last we heard from him, he was foraging for mushrooms in Washington.

The postcard we got literally said, ‘foraging for mushrooms in Washington’,” she stated, laughing. “That was all it said.”

Oh, boy.

Uriel was not doing well.

He liked gardening, and he’d foraged for mushrooms with Wyler a few times when they came back here. He was that kind of ‘weird’.

Would she think he was a weirdo too?

Yep.

She would.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” he said, not sure how else to answer.

It made her laugh.

“It’s insane that he could have eaten a poisoned one and we’ll never know. Or are you sorry that he’s this hippy nut, who likes eating things from under logs? For all I know, he’s here hiding in a tree foraging for squirrels to make a hat,” she offered, laughing.

The sound was melodic as it brushed across his flesh, tantalizing and tormenting him at the same time.

Honestly, Caspian didn’t have an answer for that.

Luckily, for him, the universe intervened, and his phone chimed.

Pulling it out of his pocket, he was damn grateful to whoever was texting him. Now, if he could just drag this text out for about ten more minutes.

When he saw it was Ivan, he read it.

‘Head to the cabin after your detail with the cop. Elizabeth is going to head into the office to catch up with Ethan and Callen before hitting the dead dude’s home.

I can cover it there. Swap out with Michael and give him a break.

He’s babysitting Wyler in the treehouse.

Last he texted me, he asked if he could tie the man up and gag him.

Expect the unexpected, and keep him where he is for the boss. ’

Well, that sounded like the best idea.

Running was easier.

Hiding was a good plan.

Caspian knew that he had no business talking to this woman, or even being near her. He was a hippy nut who meditated in forests and did yoga to keep his body and soul balanced.

There was his way out.

Dealing with Wyler was a no-brainer in his book. There were lots of things that they could talk about and he’d not laugh at him when he said something stupid. That was the safest option.

Getting as far from Rayna as possible was the best option as far as he was concerned.

For both of them.

He stalled for as long as he could, typing and erasing the line to do it over and over again. Finally, he read it over, and hit send.

‘Bless you. I’m in over my head here, Ivan. I gotta get away from her. I’m not doing well here. She’s friendly, and I’m…not.’

After getting that off his chest, he tucked away his phone, he focused on the area around them.

Rayna saw him scanning the scenery as it went by the windows of her patrol vehicle.

“It’s pretty,” she said.

That got his attention.

“The trees?”

She nodded.

“I love walking around in the woods here. It feels like home, and that’s always a nice place to be.”

Unfortunately for him, Caspian wouldn’t know.

As a Marine, he didn’t have a home. He had a place where he slept, and a bed that was there for him, but he didn’t have a place that felt like his.

Ever.

His apartment back in DC was simply a place to go after work. Even as a kid, they moved around, and he always felt…displaced.

And it sucked.

In fact, it made him a mess. Being a kid without a place to call home, and having an incredibly strict father had stunted his social skills.

As a Marine, it was actions above words.

As a guy stuck in a car with a gorgeous Native woman who had a degree and sounded intelligent, he was at a loss. That panic always led to one thing.

Because he didn’t know how to interact with her, he kept it short and sweet.

“Yeah, I like nature too.”

Jesus.

She was struggling here.

Rayna was fighting for her life here.

The guy must not be into her—not even a little bit because he was giving her the bare minimum in conversation. When she touched his leg, he’d tensed like she was burning him.

It was time to back off.

Clearly.

Luckily for both of them, they’d arrived at their destination.

As they pulled up to the council house, Rayna got out, but she didn’t see her father’s car. Going to the back seat of her vehicle, she grabbed a cooler and pulled out two bottles of water and offered one to Caspian.

“It’s warm out. Would you like a drink?” she asked.

He took it.

“Thank you, Chief.”

OOF.

He knew her name and was calling her by her job title? That was it.

Yeah, she was tanking here.

The guy was completely turned off by her. That had to be it. Somehow, she had managed to fuck this up. This was why she didn’t date a whole hell of a lot. She was forward and aggressive, and she picked a guy who wasn’t having it.

Well, this was over.

“You’re welcome. Did I upset you?” she asked, not able to keep her damn mouth shut. That was one of her issues. She opened her trap, and shit came out. “You seem annoyed.”

Oh, shit.

Immediately, he began panicking.

What wouldn’t he give to be better in social situations? Yeah, social situations with a pretty woman to be exact. She didn’t upset him, and now, he was upsetting her.

He could feel her getting ready to bolt, and honestly, he didn’t blame her at all.

“No, I’m good. Really. Thanks for the water.”

Oh, boy.

He was tanking here.

Before she could say anything else, she saw her father coming toward her. He walked out of the trees, and was heading their way.

When he saw her, he smiled.

“Hello, Sweetheart,” he said, hugging her when she got up and moved toward him.

That’s when he focused on Uriel.

“Who is the man?” he asked, literally right in front of him. The tone wasn’t a good one either.

Because there was no way out, she made the introductions.

“Dad, this is Uriel. He works for the Blackhawks. We were on the crime scene, and they didn’t want me walking back to the car alone.”

Immediately, he chilled out.

Uriel saw the moment where he realized he wasn’t a guy hanging around his daughter. He was literally just a bodyguard.

That got old too. It made him wonder what it would be like to not be invisible.

Yep.

There was no dating Rayna. It was time to forget about that and let it go.

He wasn’t good enough. He’d bet on it. Not that he’d be here long enough anyway.

“Dad, we need to talk about this,” she said, hoping he understood what she was referring to.

Lance was to the point.

“We do.”

With a stranger around, this wasn’t the place to have the conversation, so he pulled her away slightly, and Uriel stayed back.

What they didn’t realize was he had excellent hearing, and the com in his ear could switch over to microphone with a tap to the earpiece.

So he did the worst thing.

He did his job and eavesdropped.

Oh, and he heard an earful.

“You know that you’re not permitted to get involved with a white man, Rayna. How many times do we have to have this conversation? I saw how close you were sitting to him. Abort that mission.”

Rayna stared at him.

“We were literally introduced an hour ago. Calm down, keeper of my chastity belt.”

He sighed.

“Rayna, why do you have to be this way? I swear, sending you away to college made a mess. You’re out of control.”

She laughed.

“Well, I have bad news, Dad. I’m allowed to pick who I speak to. You’re still stuck in your ways from the beginning of time. It’s not nineteen oh-one. If I think a guy is attractive, and I want to have a bottle of water on a warm day with him, I can. Calm down.”

Clearly, rationalizing with his daughter was nothing but futile.

Instead, he tried another route.

Maybe that would work.

“What is being dug into is dangerous. I don’t want you dealing with it. Stop investigating. I want you to go home and pretend you know nothing about this.”

Yeah, no.

Her job was to investigate. Rayna’s job was to protect and serve the community, and at that moment, something was stalking tribe members.

On top of that, she really didn’t know anything about this whole mess, but she would.

Bet.

On.

It.

“Dad, there’s someone killing innocent people here on the reservation. I have to get involved. How can you condone this?”

Lance was to the point.

“I wish you didn’t go to the FBI. The Hollow is going to be angered by this. We have our ways, and this is just one of our ways. As for the things I’ve done, that’s not your business. My concern is this reservation. If this gets out to the media, the place will be torn apart.”

She stared at him.

“Am I having a stroke?” she asked. “You’re condoning murder? You’re telling me to look the other way? That you called this nutbag by its name…Dad. Wake up. The old ways are not the best ways. Why should someone die for some fallacy told by our ancestors before they knew better?”

He was direct.

“We are allowing the FBI to get involved, but I am not allowing you to do so. This is dangerous, and you’re young, Rayna. You do not know everything that has happened on this reservation. We will assist the FBI, but I want you to back off.”

She glanced over at Uriel, and he was simply watching her. There was no doubt she had to make a choice.

Before she could say anything, Lance went there.

“And you won’t be starting anything with the man. The Blackhawks are off limits. If he works for them, he, too, is off limits. They will be leaving when this is done, and their family…we have history.”

She turned her head.

“First, Dad, I’m a grown woman. If I want to go buck wild in that man’s lap, here and now, I will.

You don’t get to choose a mate for me. Again, stop living in the past. Secondly, he’s not a Blackhawk.

What’s hella annoying for me as someone who had the chance to leave the rez, is you accept their generosity but still judge them. ”

Lance stood his ground.

“I’m not judging them. I happen to like Elizabeth, Callen, and Ethan. It’s their father I have a beef with, and you know it.”

She sighed.