Page 81 of Chaos has a Name (An FBI Romance/Thriller #66)

The Reservation

The Treehouse

Almost Midnight

When the sound woke her up, she knew what it was going to be. Somewhere in the trees that were surrounding the cabin and treehouse, there was the low whisper of something that sent chills through her body.

The whistle.

It horrified her, and it made Elizabeth hella twitchy to hear it. There was no doubt that The Hollow, or whatever it was, wanted them to know it was around.

Looking at her watch, the hands glowed in the moonlight. They’d only been asleep an hour, and now, she was the only one awake.

Glancing over, she saw Ethan was out cold, cuddled against Gene as they were sleeping on the trap door so no one could get into the treehouse.

Which was probably a good thing because none of them were armed.

As the whistling continued, she moved, slipping out from between Callen and Chris.

It woke Callen immediately, and his eyes opened. She could see them in the light streaming in the window. When he opened his mouth, she touched her lips with her finger.

And he paused.

That’s when he heard it.

I don’t like that, he signed.

Oh, she didn’t either.

I think we’re safe, she admitted, pointing toward Gene and Ethan. There was over four hundred pounds of man holding the trap door down.

When she looked out the window, Demeter was below her, and he had his gun in his hand, as he was watching the trees. She pulled a piece of candy from her pocket, that one of the kids had given her earlier, and dropped it.

It hit him on the head, making him look up.

Immediately, she signed to him, too, using words she knew he’d learned. He was just starting to master ASL, and she needed to spell a lot of it out.

Do you hear that?

Demeter nodded his head. Then, he pointed, Michael wasn’t that far away, and it appeared he was Demeter’s backup until morning.

Do you want to go in? Demeter spelled out, painfully in really awkward ASL.

She glanced back at Chris, Ethan, and Gene who were soundly sleeping.

Why disturb them?

It had been a long day.

She shook her head and pointed at Callen’s phone beside him on the floor. Then, she sent a text to both Michael and Demeter.

‘If it gets dangerous, we’ll go in. If not, I’m staying here. They are trying to fuck with me. They think because they managed to get me once, that I’ll crumble. We’re good. If you feel threatened at all, shoot. Don’t go into the woods. They need leverage to throw me off my game.’

She hit send, and then tossed Callen his phone back. She knew when they both got it, and they read it at the same time.

The two men nodded.

Okay, well, she wasn’t going back to sleep. Elizabeth was just lucky that she could run on less sleep now that she had kids.

Because it looked as if she was.

When she sat down, Callen looked wide awake too. It appeared they were standing watch together, for now. At some point, she’d catch some sleep when the wackadoos in the trees got bored.

Oh, and they would.

At some point, they’d move on and go back to their hole until morning.

For now though, she’d never get back to sleep. That had been a very minuscule nap.

When Callen sat up, Chris rolled over, making more room for both of them.

So, she sat beside him, and it appeared they were going to be up a while.

The whistle in the trees was proof of that.

Not far from where Ethan had left it, Elizabeth saw his phone on the one ledge of the treehouse.

She was going to ‘borrow’ it. As she picked it up, silently, she got access to it, and went into the shared drive they all had.

Callen got it.

She was going to work to be ready for the morning when they had to do all of their interviews as they played catch-up.

Well, that was fine with him.

Callen did the same thing, so he could help her out. She’d been back here when they went to the crime scene, and if she needed information, he could share.

Because she was curious, she went into the drive that belonged to Ethan. It was password protected, but if you knew the man, you knew his password.

She entered it.

‘LyzeeMyLove/GeneMyLove’

Then, it opened, giving her anything he had come up with for the profile she’d asked him and Axl to work on yesterday.

She read over it.

What caught her attention first and foremost was that he highlighted one thing.

WENDIGO PSYCHOSIS.

Then, she read his notes as Callen did the same thing, mimicking what she was checking.

Never let it be said Ethan dropped the ball when asked to have something ready.

Now, she wouldn’t need a profile.

She already had it.

‘NOTES:

After being given the information from Doctor Leonard, regarding something that had his attention, I’ve looked further into the topic of Wendigo Psychosis. I’m finding that this is a distinct possibility.

With WP (Wendigo Psychosis) there is a cultural context that makes me believe that this is definitely Native Americans perpetrating the crime.

With the criminology behind the act of this case, it’s my belief that this was something that began at least a century ago.

(Currently, we have one hundred and seven skulls, the most recent not found yet) It might have been when this reservation had an influx from a neighboring one that must have had WP rampantly running wild there.

With research, I’ve determined that this is most likely happening not because of a flesh-consuming disease, but more likely paranoia on the reservation.

I’ve yet to confirm if this could be related to a disorder from consumption of flesh.

Without the brain, unfortunately, Doctor Leonard will not be able to analyze this, and give me more information.

Still, I feel that WP is a likely byproduct of the co-mingling of the tribes.

The symptoms of this disease are matching up with the potential suspects.

The prominent is paranoia, hallucinations, and cannibalistic urges dating back to other tribal customs. It is near impossible to determine if the cannibalism is because of the WP or just someone whose family has had deeply troubling mental issues.

It is my personal belief that we are dealing with someone who has a history of psychological damage whether by upbringing, birth defect, or self-imposed causation like drug use.

For this person, I’m also seeing a troubling determination of being a watcher and collector.

Today, in the cave, the skulls were not only collected and placed there, but were also displayed for the collector’s pleasure.

The macabre placement tells me that this/these person/people have been doing this for a while.

I’m going to go with males, simply based on the strength it would take to move a victim from their home, ten miles into the woods, and then dismember them.

They may, or may not have a medical background.

As I was on the scene, I noticed that the victim, Thomas Adsila, was disarticulated at the joints—not cut apart in awkward more difficult ways.

This/these person/people managed to make the disarticulation accurate and manageable.

That to me, takes knowledge. I’m going to advise the lead agent, Deputy Director Elizabeth Blackhawk, that this person is highly dangerous, and more than willing to take risks to protect their collection.

They will spend time watching, and moving through the woods to ensure they can keep tabs on people.

Problems: We have seen them react to outsider invasion of their collection.

We are still waiting to see the reaction.

It is my professional opinion that at some point, they will make another move on the investigative team.

Abduction and attempted murder by bow and arrow will only be the beginning.

With each block we place to stop them, they will counter, and make it difficult for them to be found.

ADDITIONAL NOTES: Notes from assistant profiler.

Agent Axl Thorn has given me information that he feels is pertinent, and I’ve yet to work it into my profile. To him, he feels that this is like a religion to the perps. The bone whistle, the circle that the remains were placed in, and the cave as the ‘temple’ are sacred to them.

What is coming will be volatile and they will lash out at the people they feel are the cause of this. Most importantly, Native and non-Native alike.

Assessment: No one is safe. There will be more victims, despite this being a seasonal killing. The Hollow will protect its space, and that space is the reservation. That reinforced that this is going to be patriarchal in nature, and definitely Native Americans.’

When she finished reading it, Callen had at basically the same time, and they both knew one thing.

This.

Was.

Dangerous.

They were definitely playing games with someone who had mental issues, and not Wendigo Psychosis. If they had a watcher and collector, who was paranoid, plus a disease from consuming flesh…

I don’t like this at all, Callen signed.

Yeah, neither did she.

If this is Natives, I need to figure this out. We’re literally surrounded by Natives. We won’t know who or what is coming at us, she admitted.

Elizabeth got back up, and looked out the window of the treehouse.

I have to go inside. I need to talk to Wyler. He knows a lot more about this place than we do. The kitchen light is on, and I’m betting he’s not sleeping.

Callen lifted a brow.

How are you getting out of here? Parachute? he asked.

Oh, she knew.

Reaching out the window, she grabbed a branch and shook it. That made Demeter and Michael look up at her.

She began signing, and Michael was far better at it than Demeter.

So he got it.

He whispered to Demeter, so that he understood.

Then, she glanced back at Callen.

I’m going out the window.

Jesus.

His wife was insane.

There was no way he could let her go alone. All of security was on them or the kids. Ivan, Gryphen, and Uriel were not available.

Yeah, he was going out the window too.

Clearly.