Page 7 of Chaos has a Name (An FBI Romance/Thriller #66)

Ethan would have preferred that his father had faced them, and they could have work it out as a family—not have to chase him across the country. His wife was in danger, and this…this weakened them.

With two Russian spies still out there, she could be found easily. As soon as word hit that she was out here, there was no doubt that they would have trouble swarming all over them.

He, Chris, Gene, and Callen had been working on a way to get Elizabeth protected. They needed a home base that was safer than the rez.

What began as a joke about buying a house, and a bet between all of security, turned into the best option to ensure their family was safe.

Money didn’t buy happiness, but it absolutely bought the ability to keep someone from shooting you in the back when you were off guard.

That was their motto.

If they didn’t have a wayward attorney who had been gunning for her, and the two Russian spies on a grudge match, they’d feel a little safer.

Maybe.

Elizabeth was to the point.

“My goal is to talk him into chemo, and then get his ass back on the jet to go home. This little game of chase has weakened my team and risked way too much for my liking. We’ve been made to choose between our safety, and the safety of the children or seeing Wyler in his last days.”

What they all knew was it had kicked her feet out from under her. Elizabeth loved Wyler—and she never expected him to run, leaving them all behind.

This had crushed her. So, her anger was the first layer, and they’d yet to hit grief.

Oh, but it was coming.

Bet.

On.

It.

“And if we can’t talk him into coming home?” Gene asked.

When she stared at him, he raised his hands in surrender.

“Asking for someone willing to do whatever it takes to help you get to that goal,” he said. “Don’t kill the man asking the question. I’m on your side on this one.”

She wasn’t angry with him asking. Elizabeth had resting bitch face as she tried to keep that rage bottled up inside of her.

Honestly, their five-person unit was safe, and she wasn’t upset with any of them. She was just upset in general.

“I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. I’m ready to fight for him so he can stop this bullshit.”

Callen ran his hand up and down her arm to not only soothe her, but himself.

He was struggling with this.

They all were.

“Angel,” he began, but she shut that down.

“Don’t,” she said. “I’m not ready to say goodbye. He has to get chemo. I can’t tell the kids that their grandfather is dying and won’t even fight it for all of us. I’d rather chase down a liver-munching psychopath who wants my organs for dessert.”

When she finished talking, no one said anything.

Both Gryphen and Ivan knew this was NOT the time to try to be funny.

Elizabeth was big-time stressed, and that never ended well for her, or anyone else. If she was off her game, that meant they needed to be on theirs.

From the look of it, she was about to take a bridge. Oh, not jump from one. More like invade it, steal it, and then blow it the fuck up.

When Ivan broke the silence, he kept it short and sweet. He was working through the schematics of protecting the family in his head.

Oh, and his family too.

Blue was with him, but their girls were still back home until they could work something out. Her mother had them at her place, and her father was helping out. They’d insisted, and honestly, if this got spicy, he didn’t want his daughters in the blast zone.

He was selfish like that.

This was a whole other World War ready to break out, but he could only protect one group of people at a time.

“One mile to the location.”

Callen laughed.

“Ivan, we grew up here. I think we know how long it takes to get to the ‘location’, AKA, the cabin.”

He shrugged.

“She’s distracted. I wanted to make sure she had some normalcy.”

Elizabeth tried to lighten up.

“Then ride my back like a backpack and play bodyguard. That’s familiarity I know and hate.”

Oh, he was going to do just that.

Honestly, he didn’t have a choice. There was no way any of them were getting distracted and letting the shit go down.

Not on their watch.

Ivan was on the com, talking to Raphael, who was driving one of the tail cars, and to Saint and Demeter, who were doing the same.

It wasn’t easy to move their whole family. In fact, it was a logistical nightmare.

They had so many blacked-out rides it looked like a funeral procession.

Seriously.

How no one knew The Deputy Director of the FBI was on the move was beyond him.

The signs were all there.

Their head of security for Archangel Security took things like this very seriously. Unfortunately for them, all of their retrofitted and bulletproof vehicles were back in DC.

Without them.

The plan was to move them here, depending on how long they would be in Damascus. Since they didn’t have an answer on that, they’d have to make do with the rides he’d procured for them.

When she heard him talking about what needed to be done, she reminded him of one thing.

“I don’t want the kids to know that Wyler is sick. I have to tell them, and now is NOT the time. I want to let them enjoy the trip here first, and then try to share it with them delicately. They’ve been through enough lately—especially Charlie.”

Oh, he understood, and he was down with that plan. The last thing he wanted was any of the Blackhawk brood to be hurt.

This was their family too.

Every single person on the security team was heartbroken over Wyler’s cancer diagnosis. He was like a father to them all.

Who else was going to make them cookies, and sandwiches for when they worked late?

Who else was going to talk them down after a stressful day on the job?

Who else was going to protect them when a prank went too far and Elizabeth was looking for them?

He was vital to them.

This had devastated the team to their core. Most of the security team didn’t have parents who loved them like Wyler did.

As far as anyone was concerned, Wyler was theirs, and his choice to run hurt them too.

Basically, everyone was upset now.

As they finally reached the cabin on the reservation, the cars pulled in, and there were RVs in the yard, and not far from them was a giant tipi.

In fact, those RVs were blocking it protectively. For that, Elizabeth was grateful.

It was clear that Ethan had also been working behind the scenes to set it up.

Good.

She might need a night of peyote to get her through all of this, and that was saying a lot since she was a freaking federal employee.

It would be the first time she’d travel that path to self-soothing.

Getting out of the blacked-out rides, their arrival was promptly noticed.

Immediately, Caryn left the cabin and headed her way, meeting her by the totem pole.

And Elizabeth knew one thing.

Caryn was going through it. The poor woman was already mourning her husband.

Yeah, this was nothing but a miserable pile of shit.

For all of them.