Page 68 of Chaos has a Name (An FBI Romance/Thriller #66)

Blackhawk knew they had no choice. If they kept anything from her, it could put her behind the killers, and that was just as bad as being a target of the killers.

“Yes. I’ll put them on her server. Just focus and be safe.”

Oh, well, that was the plan. Callen was born here. He didn’t plan on dying here anytime soon. He wasn’t attached to the reservation like Timothy and Wyler had been and were.

“See you soon, EJ.”

With that, Callen hung up, and glanced over at Gene. He’d been close enough to him that there was no way he didn’t hear bits and pieces of the conversation—even with the phone not on speaker.

“Our profiler is twitchy. We need to get out of here before it gets ugly.”

Yeah, he was good with that.

If Ethan thought the shit was coming, Gene wanted to make sure he, Callen, and all of the techs here were NOWHERE near this freak-fest when it hit.

“Everyone, get what you can as quickly as you can. Doctor Blackhawk thinks this is a red zone, and we are in danger. We need to move.”

That put everyone into overdrive.

The techs were going quickly, and placing the older skulls in bags, along with the newest ones.

It was going to make one hell of a forensic mess for Tony and Jaxon, but the living had to come first on this one or end up in the body bags too.

It appeared that they were getting the hell out of there, collectively.

The Hollow’s wrath was the LAST thing they needed now.

Well, next to someone’s death.

* * * The Blackhawk Family * * *

Timothy’s Cabin

Same Time

Sometimes, being a chicken was a good thing. Now that she’d talked to Wyler, and since calming down after not having to face the caves to relive the nightmare, Elizabeth was so much better.

For her, if she could clear the majority off of her plate, she’d be able to focus. With her baby birds safely tucked away with security at a nearby hotel, that was no longer stressing her out.

The two big issues were handled, and now, Elizabeth could only stress for the men in her life who were out in the field where The Hollow was hiding.

Yeah, she might just survive this after all.

On top of it all, she was being fed. That always took the stress down a notch.

That morning, bless Caryn for thinking ahead. She put a crockpot of stew on, and it tasted very familiar.

It tasted like Timothy’s recipe that she’d had when she first met him.

That was a warm hug on a bad day—for sure, and she really needed it.

Her husband, the ME one, was taking care of her, and she was also grateful for that. Normally, a hovering husband annoyed the hell out of her, but now, she welcomed it.

When she was down, she needed a little protection herself.

When Chris came out of the kitchen with steaming bowls of food for her, and himself, she knew she’d be okay.

Tomorrow was a new day, and she’d come back stronger and tougher than today.

She knew herself.

As they ate, Elizabeth was keeping herself busy by flipping through the journal that Lance Running Wolf had passed to his daughter, Rayna, and then from her to Elizabeth.

When she’d come back from talking to Wyler, she set the Native woman free. Yes, she’d asked her to look through it, but honestly, it was best she did it.

That way she could make up her own mind as to if it would be helpful or not.

And in it?

Well, let’s just say that there was nothing in there that surprised her, or that they didn’t know.

It was basically a book of fables, as she liked to call it. The council had always been aware of The Hollow.

Sad, but true.

Generations back, going all the way to when Timothy was a child, and his own father was the Shaman, there were notes that The Hollow would come.

What would be nice?

A comprehensive list of who went missing so she could figure out HOW the person was picked. If she could get her hands on that, then she’d have a way to pick this mystery apart.

She just needed something more than what they had.

Forensically, if she could get something good, like that she had been drugged after being knocked out, or a hair from one of the killers, or both, she’d be set.

Were they relatives?

Were they friends?

Those questions would help her eliminate people. If she could start chipping away at that, then she was going to be good.

When MATE chimed, on Chris’ smart watch, since hers was damaged, she glanced over.

“Yes, MATE?” she asked.

“There has been an update to your drive by Doctor Blackhawk. It’s photographs of the inside of the cave we were dumped in.”

Well, she was curious, and also amused that MATE sounded feisty that she’d been dumped along with her. Never say her AI wasn’t a girl’s girl.

She would have her back.

“Thank you, MATE.”

The system chimed.

“When you get them, kick them in the balls for me,” MATE offered.

It made Chris laugh.

Yeah, the system was back to being her spicy self. That wasn’t something that would be programmed. That was Zen learning to be more like Elizabeth and less like AI.

Well, at least something was working in their favor.

Elizabeth snorted.

“I punch more often than kick, MATE, but I absolutely will bring them in and stop them.”

Because she was curious, Elizabeth opened her tablet, and went to the drive to see what had been placed there.

Chris moved closer to sit beside her, so he could also see what they uploaded.

When he did, he wasn’t happy.

Staring back at them was the first picture, and it was an ominous warning for them.

“Hell, no. I don’t like that,” he said. “We don’t need The Hollow going buck wild on our family while we’re here,” he stated.

Yeah, she was aware.

This worried her.

How could it not?

She was damn grateful they moved the kids. Security was patrolling the yard, and some were with Ethan, Callen, and Gene.

That made her feel a little better, but nothing would make her as happy as all of them boarding the jets and getting the hell out of here.

That was still up in the air.

While she didn’t mind being in danger, since that was a normal day for her, she did mind her spouses and children at risk.

Add in the fact that Rayna had brought this to her attention, it made her worried for her too. She really hoped that the woman was off having a picnic with a Marine.

Chris touched her leg.

“We’ll all be okay. The kids are safe,” he said.

That proved to her that he was thinking the same thing. Apparently, fear also liked company.

What mother and wife wouldn’t be terrified that her partners and children were in danger?

“All I can hope is that the people behind this are like Timothy and Wyler. They want to be ON the reservation. If we can keep them here, or they live here, that will give me a smaller area to cover.”

Chris reassured her.

“Well, if I was a nut who was losing my shit about the past and historically pleasing a creature that doesn’t exist, I’d probably be a die-hard Native. I’d call the place I was protecting my home.”

That was a damn good point.

“You should use psychology more often,” she admitted.

And he gasped.

“Why would you insult me like that?”

It amused her so much she gave him a kiss on the lips and winked at him.

“You’ll forgive me.”

That he would.

Without a doubt.

Turning off the tablet, since they were the only pictures loaded, she focused on Chris. When she did, he had that very familiar look on his face.

Yeah, here it came.

“Before you go there…,” she began, only to be cut off by a husband who was NOT putting up with the crazy.

He was not playing.

“Oh, I think you know what we’re all going to say. Ivan is going to lock you down, and if you sneak away, or try to chase after a Native in the woods, there will be hell to pay.”

She was aware.

This wasn’t her territory to roam, and she knew it. Chasing two Natives into the land around this mess was asking for an arrow to the noggin.

She was out of her element here when it came to playing those kinds of games.

“For the record, Christopher, I had to sneak away in Philadelphia. I wasn’t the ringleader on that one. Gene was going to do it on his own, and I couldn’t let that happen. He’s my ride or die, and I’m his. That’s our connection to each other—not just our love for Ethan. He’s my field partner.”

Oh, he was aware.

Since she appeared to be ready to discuss it, Chris let her talk.

“I had to save Ethan from court. I’m not happy I had to do it, Christopher, but sometimes, you have to protect the family and play the game. You know that’s my calling. Gene was pissed off, and out for revenge.”

Oh, he got that.

“You said you took out the trash. Did you?” he asked, taking the direct route because he wasn’t sure if she was just covering for Gene, or not.

They hadn’t really talked about it.

She nodded.

“I pulled the trigger. I fucked with the forensics, and we took the bullet just in case. He was going to stab Gene with a wine opener. I promised to let Gene handle it, but I’m better at carrying that burden.”

Was she?

He wasn’t so sure.

Chris was willing to bet that her taking the life of the man only added to the burden she carried. Like with her favorite Christmas movie, Jacob Marley had a long chain of sins, and it got heavy to carry.

Talking about it would help.

“He was in his house, gleefully planning to hurt Ethan, and I’m not sorry I did it. If you’re looking for a sign that I’m feeling worked up about it, I’m not. He moved at Gene to kill him, and I handled it.”

He brushed some drying hair off of her face, and tucked it behind her ear.

“I’m not looking for anything. I’m giving you a chance to get it off your chest so you can move on.”

She stared into his eyes.

“It’s not easy to take a life, Elizabeth. I know that you still feel that when you have to do it. We’ve been together for a long time. I know you better than anyone.”

That he did.

“Really, I’m good, Orion. If I just shot him without him trying to shank Gene, I would feel some remorse. I was protecting my partner. That’s the bottom line.”

Yeah, he was aware.

He’d reached out to Corbin, and the man had given him the official autopsy report.