Page 64 of Chaos has a Name (An FBI Romance/Thriller #66)

The Woods

Round Two

Wednesday

Six P.M.

Never did the two men ever believe that they would be scared of going into the woods where they grew up, but they were both feeling the energy all around them, and it wasn’t a good thing.

Not at all.

The whole reservation had taken on a more ominous feel, and there was no doubt what had happened was part of that.

Two killers crept, and they knew the odds of finding the breadcrumbs back to them wouldn’t be easy. Since this was a situation where someone who had done this for a very long time had passed it off, they needed to keep an open mind.

And open eyes.

With what Elizabeth had told them, these killers had moved fast, and hit her hard. They wouldn’t be old.

Was this the next generation of killers, and The Hollow had recently passed hands?

Or were they going to be blindsided by this too?

Time would tell.

All they knew was the idea of being in the woods when it got dark was about as alluring as being dumped into a hole with venomous snakes, they needed to get their asses moving.

When Ethan, Gene, and Callen arrived at the crime scene, everyone was holding here, waiting for Elizabeth to return.

The good news was the techs had wrapped up their work, and those things were ready to be shipped back to FBI West so that DNA could be run and trace too.

Well, at least they’d accomplished something.

In the clearing of the hunting campground, as soon as they realized that Elizabeth wasn’t with them, there was worry.

Without hesitation, and to reassure the agents and techs, Ethan handled it.

“Before you ask, the hit to the head put her on the downtime list until morning. She put up a fight, but the boss had to be benched. Trust and believe she will be riding ass in the morning.”

As soon as he said that, those who had worked with her got it, and the worry abated.

For everyone else, they’d heard plenty about Elizabeth Blackhawk to know that was exactly what was going to happen. Her tenacity was well-known.

Because they had to get this done, and before the sun set, Ethan continued.

“We’re going to divide up. I see we have techs here and agents.

Anyone who is not up to date on this case, let me catch you up.

The Deputy Director of the FBI was working this case when she was assaulted and kidnapped.

She came to in a cave nearby, and saw more remains.

We have two scenes that are going to have to be processed.

This one, and that one. I see that this one is handled, so that’s a plus for all of us. ”

All around them, there were murmurs again, and they mostly started at the word ‘kidnapped’.

Again, he reassured them.

“Really, she’s fine and pissed that she isn’t here.

Because she isn’t, we’re playing divide and conquer so we can get the hell out of the woods as quickly as possible.

We have the data from her vest on her location from when she woke up in the cave.

We used that to get a location, right, Ivan?

” he asked, cueing the man in that he was up.

He nodded.

“We downloaded everything, and we’re able to track her steps. I can get you to the place she had been.”

Perfect.

Well, then, that was settled.

“Now, we’re going to split up and move through the woods to get to the site. This is the most important part. We do NOT know what is out there waiting for us.”

No one looked happy about that.

And they shouldn’t be.

Ethan was honest.

“The bears and bucks are not your worst enemies. We know from the boss that there are two suspects. They like to separate and box people in. Don’t get separated from the group. I’ll be here with Axl, so we can hold this scene until everyone else gets back.”

The last thing they wanted was for the criminals to block them off from getting back to the cars.

He continued.

“Special Agent Cantrell and Director Whitefox will work the cave to collect any and all of the evidence in the other location,” he said, opting to stay behind.

Yes, he’d get an insight into the minds of the madmen, but someone had to babysit the team. Ethan was stepping up for his wife.

It was the least he could do.

As for the team, everyone was listening intently.

“We’ll go heavier on people for the other location—just to be safe. Get in, get what you can, and then everyone get back here. Elizabeth estimated that there are about one hundred skulls.”

The new techs gasped.

“Yeah, our thoughts too. It’s the killer’s trophy room, and you know how they get bitchy when we screw with their possessions.”

Ethan already suspected that not only did they have someone with Wendigo Psychosis, and some mental illness from consuming flesh, but that they had a collector. That was also passed down to these killers.

“Please, since this is dangerous, stay aware and use the buddy system the whole time. We don’t want anyone to end up like this,” he said, pointing at the bone pit. “Not only were they murdered, but they were also cannibalized.”

That’s when the next round of murmurs began.

And he got it.

Only, their team was accustomed to cases this crazy. It was just how they rolled.

Focusing on Gene and his brother, he was to the point.

“Be safe, okay? I don’t want to have another loved one missing and have a worse outcome. The stress over this was plenty for today.”

Yeah, they didn’t want that either.

“We’ll stick together,” Callen promised.

That worked for Ethan. He wasn’t kidding about the stress levels.

Both men gave him a fist bump, and they headed over to security to grab Raphael and Saint. Ivan would stay there and monitor this site.

They grabbed the tablet, the one that Ivan had downloaded Elizabeth’s location information to, and headed out with their team.

Hopefully, they would be okay.

When they were gone, Axl headed his way, and he wanted to talk to Ethan.

To get caught up.

If he was there, it was likely because Elizabeth wanted him to come up with a profile, and Ethan to make sure he was spot on.

While his mentor had been off of his game last week, Ethan appeared to be doing so much better.

“I’m out of the loop. I know that update you gave the teams was basic. Can you give me more? What is going on so we can profile it?”

He shared.

They were all going to have to be on their game for what they were facing. Now, he was glad Elizabeth had pulled Axl to help him.

This was a mess.

“Apparently, the Natives on this reservation have something called ‘The Hollow’,” he offered. “Every year, on the Solstice, it makes a sacrifice of one person to the Wendigo.”

Axl blinked.

“What?” he asked. “Really? The Wendigo-Wendigo? Or is that code for something else?”

Oh, Blackhawk wished it was something else.

Already, he had the feeling the crazy was about to run wild for them.

The suspects were definitely out of their minds.

He nodded.

“Yeah, and it’s been happening for a long time.

When Callen and I were kids, our grandfather told us the story.

In fact, the more I think about it, the more it makes sense.

He’d keep us inside that one night. It was always the Solstice.

We thought he was just trying to scare us, but now, I see he wasn’t.

He believed that bad people were taken that night and sacrificed. ”

Axl whistled.

“That’s a lot of victims.”

Oh, he was aware.

“The hardest parts for us is that we don’t know how they are picked, and on top of that, there is no way to track the victims. Most reservations have a revolving door.

They keep track of the people living here, but not leaving.

You’d be shocked to know how many Natives bail and head out of their reservations. ”

He could only imagine.

So far, he wasn’t enjoying what he was hearing. That was for damn sure.

“So, what you’re saying is we’re retrieving remains and have zero opportunity to track who they belong to?” he asked.

Ethan nodded.

That was exactly what he was saying. Now, the man understood the problem with this. They had science on their side, but they also had the sheer volume of remains bogging them down.

It would take them a long time to put the bones back with their owners, and find their identities.

IF they could.

If they couldn’t identify them, they couldn’t figure out how or when they were taken.

It was a giant circle jerk—of sorts.

“This killer found the perfect place. No one would question a single person disappearing each year. It happens a lot here.”

From where he stood, Tony heard him.

He moved closer.

“What are we going to do with the remains?” he asked. “If I can’t get them back to their families…”

There was only one answer.

“We’ll have to see what Chief Redbear wants to do with them. If they are generations old, he’ll want them treated with respect and likely buried in a mass setting in the burial grounds.”

That he understood.

In fact, that was exactly what Tony wanted too. He never wanted bones to sit in his bone room. He wanted them sent home to be buried in peace.

“I don’t know how Elizabeth is going to catch a killer that only leaves one set of remains per year,” Axl stated. “The odds of her figuring it out…”

Oh, he knew.

Ethan had to hope they could pull some DNA, or figure this out by using what she learned after being abducted. Already, they knew there were two.

That helped.

A little.

If not that, fingerprints on the arrows they collected would be an option, or if they left something on Elizabeth. Other than that, this was a damn tough case.

What they needed was a little help.

Or to get damn lucky.

As Tony went back to his job of tagging the countless bones that were sitting in the bags, Ethan was thinking about something his wife had said.

It stuck with him, and he wanted to know what Axl thought about it.

“What do you know about Wendigo Psychosis?” he asked, testing the man to see what he might know.

The man looked befuddled.

It was clear that hearing it again did nothing to enlighten him. Axl must not have read up on it ever.