Page 52 of Chaos has a Name (An FBI Romance/Thriller #66)

When Michael, Raphael, and Ivan came back into the clearing, they were dripping wet.

“We need to get our bearings,” Ivan said. “We don’t play on this side of the reservation. As soon as this monsoon passes, we’ll get tech here and go back in.”

And that told them one thing.

Elizabeth was on her own.

Backup wasn’t coming for a while. Now, would they even be in time?

It was anyone’s guess.

* * * The Blackhawk Family * * *

The Treehouse

Same Time

The weather was turning ugly, but Uriel still wasn’t letting Wyler leave the treehouse. He had his orders, and there was no way he was letting Elizabeth down.

Not now.

On his com, Uriel could hear the conversations between the other Archangels and Ivan, and he wanted to race back to the scene in the worst way.

Only, he’d been put on Wyler duty, and he wasn’t going to drop the ball.

Oh, but it was damn annoying that he couldn’t help find Elizabeth and instead he was on this grown-ass man who had zero common sense.

Luckily for Wyler, he was calm.

As for keeping things quiet, so as not to panic any of the family, Wyler, the man who was trapped there with him, was definitely figuring this out.

There was no way he didn’t realize something was up.

They were all trying to keep this on the DL, since they didn’t want the kids hearing that their mother was missing and likely taken by a killer, but the older man…he wasn’t an idiot.

“Yes, copy,” Uriel said, when Ivan asked if Wyler was still contained. The last thing they wanted was another Blackhawk missing in the forest of the reservation.

There weren’t enough of them, and he’d be on his own.

“What’s going on?” Wyler asked, suspiciously. “And I don’t mean with me having to stay up here a prisoner during a thunderstorm.”

Uriel was comfortable around the family, so he didn’t fear dealing with them. So, he was cool, calm, and focused.

“An emergency came up,” he said, keeping it lowkey to ensure everyone was calm.

That wasn’t enough for the man.

He was sitting on the floor of the treehouse, the one his sons rebuilt after removing the original one to take with them.

It was bigger, and it was also higher up, so Wyler couldn’t jump from a branch to figure out what was happening over the coms.

“What kind?” he asked.

Uriel just shrugged.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Wyler didn’t like that answer.

His family was here, and he needed to know. The vibes were off, and the reservation felt…weird—for a lack of better words.

Something was most definitely going on there.

He’d bet on it.

“It’s not like you to be a dick, Uriel. What is going on? I think I deserve to know since I’m being held prisoner up here.”

The man stared at him.

“You won’t like the answer. Me not telling you is to protect you, not hurt you.”

Wyler didn’t like a lot of things lately, the first and foremost being him dying.

Next was that his whole family came here, and were going to try to pressure him to get chemo.

Oh, there was so much he disliked as of late, and now, this man was annoying him.

Everyone assumed he was trying to be difficult, but he wasn’t. His home called him back so he could be at peace.

That was why he’d not gone back to see Takoda’s son being born. That was difficult, but he knew he’d break if Elizabeth asked him to do chemo. He knew he’d see those little faces he loved so much, and that he’d have to tell them the truth.

He was dying.

On top of that, seeing Elizabeth…how could he say no to her when she begged him to fight?

She was his only daughter.

He had sons out the wazoo, but not a daughter to call his own other than her.

“Life is like that. We don’t like everything given to us. We deal with it.”

Uriel lifted a brow.

That was funny since the man ran from life, and had made them all come here. That was priceless because him running was the catalyst to start it all.

So, he told him.

“Elizabeth was just abducted by someone killing people on the reservation. It’s going by the name The Hollow,” he said.

The man’s eyes went huge.

“Oh, God, no!” he stated, getting up.

When he went to try and climb out the window, Uriel grabbed him, and sat him back down.

Yeah, no.

This was why he didn’t want to tell him.

To ensure he stayed put, Uriel pulled military zip cuffs from the back of his vest, and locked Wyler to part of the tree that grew in the middle of the treehouse.

“You’re staying.”

Wyler was scared.

“Where is she? Shouldn’t we be out there looking for her? We have to go! She can’t be missing! The Hollow is a bad thing!”

The temperature in the treehouse changed. Wyler was no longer being pissy that he was being held captive, but Uriel still was. The bottom line was that Wyler set this off. They could be back in DC looking at the construction of the new estate, and instead, they were here.

In danger.

Maybe it wasn’t done purposely, but it was still done.

He’d bailed on all of them, forgetting that the men who guarded the family felt the pain of his diagnosis too. They were supposed to be family.

“What do you care?” Uriel asked.

Wyler stared at him.

“She’s my daughter. Of course I care,” he said. “What is this attitude?” he asked.

Uriel laughed.

“Oh, maybe the attitude is you bailed on us last week, heading here. You didn’t bother to tell any of us you were sick, like we didn’t matter. That was bullshit, Wyler, and you know it. You ran and this is the outcome.”

He calmed down.

It was clear he’d hurt so many people. Now, Wyler was thinking about what Timothy had said to him.

He.

Was.

Selfish.

“It was hard to come to grips with it,” Wyler admitted. “I wasn’t running as much as…”

Fuck it.

He was absolutely running, and Uriel called him out on his bullshit. Michael wouldn’t talk to him, Uriel was pissed, and he understood.

He hurt all of them.

“I’m sorry,” Wyler said.

Uriel leaned against the wall and crossed his feet at the ankles as he parked his ass there to babysit a grown-ass man. He would have felt bad about the cuffs, but he wasn’t feeling magnanimous toward him after the stunt.

“Whatever.”

Wyler was scared for Elizabeth’s safety, but it was clear he had another issue that needed to be handled.

The Marines were pissed at him too. If they didn’t find Elizabeth, and anything happened to her, they’d never forgive him.

And just maybe he deserved that.

“I didn’t think…”

It was seldom that Uriel got angry.

It wasn’t his nature. You didn’t grow up in a military family with an overbearing father to have temper tantrums, or to lose your cool.

It got your ass kicked.

Only, Wyler bailing on all of them hit a sore spot for each and every one of them.

Takoda had been hurt that the man didn’t show to see his child born. The Marines were pissed that a man they considered their grandfather, too, had walked away.

Oh, and that this shit all went down because they came here. If they lost Elizabeth, there would be very little forgiveness.

“You don’t think. That’s the problem. For three days, Elizabeth and your sons have had to alter their whole existences to get here. They uprooted all of the kids, all of us, and even the Feds.”

Wyler sat there.

“All because you don’t want to try and save yourself from cancer.

All because you couldn’t just tell us that you were sick again.

We had to play this game, and now, the stakes are damn high, Wyler.

Back in DC, you might have been the only one who died.

Now, Elizabeth and your grandchildren are in danger. ”

Wyler’s heart hurt.

So, he came clean.

He stared into the man’s eyes.

“It’s spread throughout my body,” Wyler admitted, saying the words out loud since telling Caryn.

“Oh, we all know. We saw the medical records. We know the prognosis. Only, to a bunch of Marines, there’s only one way to handle this.

You charge it head-on, and let your backup have you.

If it takes you down, you fought honorably.

You didn’t chicken out, and bail. Retreat is never a good policy—especially if you never stepped foot on the battlefield. ”

Honestly, Wyler knew he’d bailed.

Caryn had told him as much, and he felt bad about it. When he saw his whole family here, he knew he’d screwed up.

They were more honorable than him.

That was for sure.

“Then, because we had to chase, the woman we all call our mother is gone. She could be dead, Wyler. For all we know, she could have been killed by whatever this Hollow is.”

He was horrified.

“It’s only a legend. A story,” Wyler said. “My father told me it only takes an offering once a year so that the Natives here are safe. The Wendigo watches over us and The Hollow picks the sacrifice. It’s just a tale…”

Well, yeah, they were aware of that, but this tale had taken someone else.

“Last night, it took a victim, and this morning, the chief of the reservation police went to Elizabeth. Now, she’s gone. They found her gun, badge, and phone where she’d been, but only after it lured her out of the campsite to chase it.”

Oh, this was bad.

Even if it was just a story, it was clear someone had taken that way too far.

“Let me help find her. I can track her. I can get to her and…”

“NO. You’re to stay. Let’s just say you’re in a timeout so you can think about what you’ve done.

I’m so sorry you’re battling cancer. We all are, but you could have let us help you.

We’re family, Wyler. You didn’t have to bail.

In the house, your great-grandchild is here, and you have more than most of us do to fight to live for, Wyler.

Still, you bailed on your family. That seems to be a habit for you. ”

That hit him hard.

Because he was right.

He bailed on Catherine.

He bailed on Ethan.

He bailed on Callen.

“You ran, and now, you get treated like this. We’re all pissed and you’re lucky you’re stuck here with me. Raphael and Saint wanted to punch you in the face, lock you in a trunk, and drive you back to DC.”

Yeah, he could see that.

Instead of arguing, he said nothing.

Only, Uriel was pissed enough to go there.

“Who is going to make us cookies?” Uriel asked.

“Who is going to talk to us over sandwiches in a kitchen? Who is going to tell us we’re part of the family?

You made us feel like we never were a part of your circle.

By excluding all of us, you abandoned us.

We would have fought for you, Wyler. All you had to do was come to us. ”

Yeah, he could see that now.

He had some thinking to do.

Not only about his cancer, but about how he’d handled this. Then, the second he could, he was sneaking away to help find Elizabeth.

The Marine could bet on that.

* * * The Blackhawk Family * * *

Not Far From

The Bodies

In The Woods

Watching them, they knew that there was no way they should stay there. As soon as the rain ended, they’d be hunted. The Chief of Police had a hunting dog, and that was dangerous if it tracked them to their home.

Yeah, in hindsight, they’d made a horrible mistake. The Hollow had fucked up.

Taking the woman brought an onslaught of people into the woods.

And that upset them.

This was their home.

This was their sacred place.

Tasked with this duty, they had done it honorably for quite a while.

Having the bones found, their sacred, sacred bones, this now tainted the place.

And made them angry.

As the heavens opened, and the rain and lighting lit up the gray sky, they knew one thing.

The Wendigo was angered.

Once again, like long ago, someone had tried to interfere in what was natural for the Natives here.

It was trying to stop them.

So, that meant one thing.

They would put up a fight and teach the outsiders not to play with something they weren’t familiar with.

The Hollow had spoken.

And soon, there would be more deaths.