Page 72 of Chaos has a Name (An FBI Romance/Thriller #66)

Back In The

Clearing

Wednesday Evening

Eight P.M.

They had wrapped up the wildly chaotic evidence grab in the shortest amount of time possible too. When Callen and Gene headed out of the cave, they were making sure the people with them were all accounted for and safe.

In tow, they had one hundred and seven skulls. It was like an FBI field trip, and they were the chaperones trying to sneak every skull out of a museum.

It was insane.

It was heavy.

It was dangerous.

Letting someone go down on their watch was not something they wanted happening, so they had to be very aware of their surroundings even as they tried to be respectful of the victim’s skulls.

To make sure, they put all of the techs in the middle, since none of them were carrying guns. At the front and back, there were special agents, leading and following at the end.

Most importantly, they were armed.

And dangerous.

You knew it was bad when Feds had their guns out, ready to go at the single incoming arrow.

At the front of the pack, Gene and Callen were scanning, and making sure they followed the tablet and the map back to the camping ground.

All they could hope was if an arrow came in, aimed at them, it would hit their vests.

And save them.

The sun was down, and it was just light enough that they didn’t need flashlights, but just dark enough that they were freaked out.

The vibe in the forest was off, and neither Gene nor Callen liked it.

The place felt…haunted.

It was like that feeling you got on Halloween as the witching hour approached.

It felt spooky.

Maybe it was the skulls in tow, or the wing blowing through the trees, but this was not a fun little assignment.

“I really don’t like this,” Gene said, his gut screaming that they were in danger.

It was rare that his gut was wrong.

This time, he hoped it was.

There wasn’t a lot of cover for them in case this went to hell in a handbasket, and they couldn’t outrun two Natives in the woods who spent all of their time here.

Callen was scanning the terrain not only for traps, but for Natives.

In this case, it was better safe than sorry.

“Ditto,” he admitted.

The words were no sooner out of his mouth when they both heard it.

Oh, and it sent chills through their bodies.

It was a whistle.

And it was coming from…somewhere.

At first, everyone froze in place, and safeties were clicked off in anticipation of the bad shit heading their way.

When nothing happened at first, Gene was to the point.

“We need to move quicker,” Gene said, as both he and Callen picked up the pace to get them to the clearing where they found the original remains.

As they hustled, the whistle continued, but it was not in one location.

It surrounded them.

“It’s coming from a couple of places,” Gene whispered, his finger on the trigger as he pointed it at the ground while they walked.

Callen was in the same defensive position, ready to shoot in any direction an arrow came from and at them.

“It sounds like it’s in front of us, and then behind us.” he said.

One of the other agents got their attention.

Agent Brooks Noto kept his voice low, and since Callen and Gene were right next to him, they heard him.

“I don’t like this. We’re being watched. The hair on my arms is standing up.”

Oh, they knew.

That’s the weirdest whistle they had heard in their lives. It didn’t sound like a person making the sound. It was…hollow-sounding.

That’s when Gene got it.

“CJ, it’s a bone,” he whispered, praying it stayed light enough for them to get back to the camping clearing, and get the fuck out of there.

He wasn’t going to be happy until they were at the cabin, safely tucked inside.

Callen listened to it.

“There was that carved bone in the pit,” he said. “Maybe they do this all of the time with the remains. It’s sick that they eat them, desecrate their bodies, and now are making whistles out of them.”

On that, Gene agreed.

“The Hollow,” he whispered. “It’s what the bone sounds like. It sounds hollow.”

Jesus.

He was right.

Was that why they called themselves that?

Now, they needed to figure out if that was the name because of the bone, or they were telling them something about themselves.

And for some reason, they believed time was running out.

Fast.

Hell was about to open up and explode all over them and the reservation.

Bet on it.

* * * The Blackhawk Family * * *

Timothy’s Cabin

Same Time

Okay, it was crystal clear that he needed help.

Uriel had no freaking clue what to do. For the first hour, he tried to convince himself that he should just eat the food, and call it a night.

Only, that didn’t feel right.

It felt…icky.

Like he was being a douchebag.

Honestly, Uriel prided himself on being the opposite of that, and he really wished he could go back an hour and change what had happened.

Rayna had to be so hurt by his response, and he knew it. If it had been him, he would absolutely be.

Tomorrow, she was going to be angry, and he deserved it. Only, how did he get her to understand?

It wasn’t intentional.

He swore to God it wasn’t. He was just fucked up and unable to assimilate into the normal world. As a Marine, he didn’t have to talk.

He followed orders.

That made his existence easier. Pretty ladies weren’t hitting on him in a warzone.

No.

Bombs were trying to take him out. That was why he excelled at being a soldier.

But now, he was home, and the problems were just as bad as when he was trying to navigate landmines and IEDs.

In order to get through this, he had to talk to someone about it, and he knew exactly who to speak to.

Elizabeth.

If he didn’t fix this tonight, he knew there was no way he’d be able to face the woman tomorrow.

It was time to call in backup.

Going toward the cabin, he passed Muriel, who was doing patrol, and that had his attention. She moved around like a shadow.

He’d almost not seen her.

Honestly, since joining them, the woman had begun to fit in just fine, and she didn’t mind busting ass.

The whole thing was a learning process for the men at Archangel Security.

Why?

Well, because it was rare to have a female Archangel. The men like Raphael, himself, and Michael had special skills that made them Archangels.

Raphael was good at getting out of really chaotic situations like fires and explosions.

Michael was a master of defense and guns. You didn’t want to go at him with a blade or intent to harm him.

And he…

Well, Uriel was cool headed and had the uncanny ability of having nine lives. Oh, and he could snap a neck with relative ease.

They had NO clue what Muriel was good at or how she fit into the team, but they liked her.

A lot.

Ivan tried to goad her into working out with them, and all she said was she didn’t want to hurt them.

That tended to be a legit thing when a Marine warned someone, and they were taking that as a warning from one Marine to the other.

It was like seeing a snake on the path. You heard the rattle and avoided. You didn’t poke it.

As he nodded at her, and headed into the cabin, he was grateful for being part of a family. Because God knew he could fuck some shit up.

On the couch, Elizabeth was on her tablet. When she looked up, he went there.

“Can I bother you?” he asked. “If it’s a bad time, I can go.”

Oh, she knew why he was here. It was rare one of their Marines was twitterpated. That this one was, she suspected his dinner date had riled him up.

Yeah, this was going to be about a woman.

It always was, or in the case of the gay Marines, a man.

To reassure him that she always had time, Elizabeth patted the couch.

“Sure. What’s on your mind?” she asked.

Because this wouldn’t be the first time that he’d needed help, Uriel felt comfortable doing that. He wasn’t worried about talking to Elizabeth.

She never made a guy feel dumb, or like there was something wrong with him. They all trusted her to hold their hearts safe.

Like a mom.

“Thank you. I need help.”

He started talking, and she could hear it in his voice. He was beyond twitterpated.

Caspian was freaked out.

“About an hour ago, there was a knock to the door, and when I opened it, the Chief of Police was there. She brought me dinner and wanted to have a picnic.”

Yeah, she figured this was going to be about the woman. It was good to see that Rayna followed through. This man needed to get a life.

Literally.

His was definitely not where he should be for a healthy, virile thirty-something man. Someone’s oats were rotting in the field, not being sown.

“She bought me dinner. I don’t know how to work with that. I don’t know how to deal with the fact that she seems to be pursuing me. Then, there was the fact she found my favorite foods. It freaked me out that I was sweaty from working out, and…”

Someone was talking a mile a minute.

To slow him down, Elizabeth put her hand on his arm.

“Breathe.”

He did because it was becoming difficult to get his words to come out the right way.

“Are you better?” she asked.

Uriel nodded.

“I think so,” he said, picking out the words that wouldn’t trip him up.

Elizabeth helped him out.

“Maybe she wanted to be nice, or maybe she’s into big, silent men who are handsome. You’re a catch, Caspian.”

He stared at her like he was confused.

Because he was.

“I don’t understand that. Why would she be nice? We just met.”

Oh, this one was going to be a tough one.

“Because good people can generally find other good people. You’re a decent human being who is nice to look at. You don’t have that ugly Marine mug. She thought you were sexy, and was curious about you.”

Yeah, and that was part of the issue.

He pointed at Wyler who was silently sitting on the couch reading something on his tablet.

“Are we going home because Wyler is going to have chemo, or are we staying?” he asked, needing to get that out of the way so he could see what amount of time he’d have here.

Caspian didn’t do one-night stands unless the woman ran right after the first night. That wasn’t what he wanted anymore in his life.

All of his friends were settling down.