Page 8 of Chaos has a Name (An FBI Romance/Thriller #66)

Damascus

The Reservation

Same Time

What else could Elizabeth do? There was no doubt they all felt helpless. So, to help Caryn, she hugged her, and immediately, Elizabeth could feel the heaviness in her. It was that bad energy all around her.

In fact, Caryn felt like she was weighed down with all of this, and for that, she was so sorry.

A Blackhawk man had struck again.

Maybe she owed Timothy a thank you for not dragging his illness out by telling them. Maybe he’d done them all a favor.

Being on death watch…

It sucked.

“Hey,” Elizabeth said, being gentle.

Yeah, she knew how the woman felt at that moment. Only, it was worse for her. This was her husband, and Caryn was being held hostage in this too.

Elizabeth didn’t envy her at all.

“I’m sorry,” the older woman whispered. “I wanted to come home. Don’t hate me for not telling you as soon as he told me. He’s out of his mind,” she added. “I can’t talk any sense into him.”

Oh, she wasn’t angry with her mother-in-law.

Not.

At.

All.

She was cranky over having to come back here, and potentially for a decent amount of time until she could convince Wyler to fight, or wait for him to die.

That last option made her belly roll with revulsion even thinking about it.

“Mom, it’s okay,” she said, kissing Caryn on the forehead. “I know what will cheer you up,” she admitted.

And she did know.

When she set her free, Coraline wasn’t far away, and she was holding a car seat with Oliver strapped in.

When in doubt, toss a baby into the mix to cheer up a great-grandma.

Only, the minute she saw Coraline and the little boy, Caryn started crying. The emotion was raw and there was no doubt she’d cried more than a few times over this.

Heading toward Coraline and Oliver, Caryn couldn’t stop sobbing.

Honestly, it was likely a mix of missing his birth, and the whole shitmess that had exploded around her.

Never let it be said that when a Blackhawk screwed something up, they didn’t do it spectacularly.

Wyler was winning the award on this one.

No.

Doubt.

Being completely sympathetic, Coraline hugged the woman and tried to soothe her. She couldn’t imagine the position she was in where she was losing the love of her life.

That had to be crushing.

No, it had to be devastating.

“It’s okay, Great-Grandma!” Coraline admitted. “You didn’t miss much. All he does now is sleep, eat, and poop. Plus, Oliver is portable,” she stated. “Why don’t you hold him? I’m sure he’d love a good great-grandma snuggle.”

That was all it took.

Caryn wanted that more than anything. Missing his birth was horrible, and she was still angry with Wyler about that.

He’d promised they’d go back, and he’d refused to leave with her.

How was she leaving him alone?

HOW?

Immediately, Coraline put down the car seat, and Caryn carefully unbuckled it to get to the very precious cargo inside it.

Her heart melted.

“He’s beautiful,” she whispered, checking out his blue eyes and tiny little fingers. “Oh, Cora, you and Takoda make beautiful babies,” she said. “He’s such a handsome little man.”

Cora beamed.

How could she not?

On this, they agreed wholeheartedly.

“He’s such a good baby,” she admitted. “Truly, Oliver is a little angel.”

From where she stood, Elizabeth took it all in. Oh, and she had to remind Coraline of one thing.

“EJ and CJ were good babies too. Now, take a look at them,” she said, pointing toward her sons.

They all watched as the children were out of the cars, and running around like maniacs trying to burn off that pent-up energy.

It.

Was.

Chaos.

Then again, that was the story of her life at that point. Chaos was the ONLY constant.

As the kids were running, the whole time, Security was trying to keep up with them and keep track of them.

Oh, this was going to suck for Ivan and his team. They had their work ahead of them, and she knew it.

In that moment, she knew the truth. This wasn’t going to work.

This open space…

If they weren’t constantly in danger, she wouldn’t mind letting CJ and EJ run wild like little Native hellions. She knew her husbands had been just like this, and they turned out fine.

Boys needed space, and so did the girls.

If things were different…

But they weren’t. There were people who would want to hurt them to take her down. The lesson was learned with Sally when she got her hands on Charlie.

It was time to bite the bullet.

Clearly.

Screw winning the bet against the security team. She’d put big money on not getting a house there. Now, it looked like she was going to have to give in.

For the baby birds.

When she looked at Callen, she said something she NEVER thought she’d say in all of her life. That just proved how jacked-up this whole thing was.

“CJ, I need a big-ass house that has a gate and enough room for the kids to do their thing. Will you buy me a house?” she asked, finally giving in for the safety of her kids.

The second it was out of her mouth, both he and Chris laughed, and Callen rubbed his hands together maniacally.

Oh, and he wasn’t the only one.

Ivan grinned, and so did all of the security team that had bet against her. It was only Gryphen who had bet that she’d die before asking for a house.

In this case, someone might die if she didn’t, and they all knew that was the only reason why she was doing it.

To protect her children.

Well, that was a short-lived bet.

“We win,” Ivan said, and he was promptly flipped off too.

Damn.

Wyler made her act a fool again.

Immediately, money began changing hands. The men were more than happy to win this bet. It looked like Ivan was the big winner too.

Now, he’d never let her live this down.

And neither would Callen.

“Oh, I’ve dreamed of this day,” he said. “It’s the day where the woman I love asks for presents and I get to have fun with it.”

Oh, brother.

This was going to be a spectacle.

She knew it.

“I’m going to buy you the biggest, bestest house I can find. It’s going to be so big we’ll have to yodel in it to find each other,” he joked, trying to lighten the mood.

He was worried for his wife.

“That might be too much,” she admitted, trying to slow that out-of-control roll down.

Already, she knew she was screwed on this one. That house would be a nightmare for her. Elizabeth would bet on it.

“Oh, I know, but what’s that saying?” he asked.

Ethan chimed in.

“Callen is a dick?” he asked. “That very popular one?”

His brother pointed at him.

“Yes, but not the saying I was thinking about. I do believe it’s ‘go big or go home’,” he admitted. “Oh, and I’m going to go so big it blocks out the sun.”

She sighed.

Why wasn’t she surprised?

When she gave Callen a chance to run wild, he did—after running to the bank to get money to really do it up.

He kissed his wife on the forehead.

“Don’t worry, Angel. I’ve actually been in contact with some real estate agents. There’s a whole apartment building in Damascus that Chris and I are buying.”

She stared at him.

IN.

HORROR.

“So much for waiting for me to ask,” she said.

Oh, they knew her.

They also knew this situation.

This was going to be about moving quickly.

At that moment, they were putting up their team in temporary housing all over the city. They needed to absorb the financial hit since everyone who worked for her either had homes they had mortgages on, or they were paying rent back home.

This was their way of thanking them for moving to keep the team intact. It wasn’t fair to make them pay for apartments while they were here.

Plus, it was a business venture. They were diversifying their portfolio to make sure each of their kids had income when they got older.

He grinned at his wife.

“Good to see you aren’t surprised.”

Oh, she wasn’t.

So, he kept going.

“We also saw a house. We’re just waiting on you to see it. Chris picked it out. It’s not far from where we all lived when we were here before.”

Well, shit.

Talk about having to walk down memory lane each time she had to leave the house to go to work. The last thing she wanted to do was have Chris drive by his old home where Cyra had died.

“Don’t worry,” Callen said. “No one ever rebuilt on it. Chris won’t have to relive it. I’m not crazy,” he said, knowing what she was thinking.

If anything, Elizabeth put all of them first.

At his words, she was able to relax slightly.

Well, thank God for that.

Callen continued.

“It has a large, fenced yard, and a massive apartment over the garage for security.”

Okay, Callen was a little too excited about this.

She stopped him.

“I’m going to try and get Wyler to head home,” she said. “I’ll look at it if I fail in that mission.”

They were well aware that they were NOT going to be leaving here.

Not for a while.

Everyone knew how stubborn Wyler was, and his sons didn’t blame him. This had been his home almost all of his life. He grew up here, and they wanted to be buried here too. At some point, they planned on returning to the scene of the crime from their youth.

The bottom line was that the reservation called to their spirits.

Yeah, they weren’t leaving any time soon. Only, no one was willing to start that bet. It would hurt Elizabeth and that wasn’t part of the fun.

“Wyler is going to have chemo,” she stated. “If it’s the last thing I do.”

Well, she was about to run headlong into that wall, and they all knew it.

It was only a matter of time before this blew up, and someone got hurt. They suspected it was going to be a Native man who had the worst end of it too.

Caryn was cuddling Oliver, and she had news for Elizabeth.

“You won’t budge him. We had a horrible fight this morning about how everyone was having to pick up their lives when all he had to do was get the chemo. He told me I’m being irrational.”

Oh.

Hell.

No.

Yeah, she would show him irrational. Two crazies could play that game. Elizabeth would show him how insane he was being.

Bet on it.

As for what he said…

Well, budge…abduct…to her they were the same now, and she would bend that rule.