Page 86 of Chaos has a Name (An FBI Romance/Thriller #66)

Never let it be said that sleeping on a wood floor at his age was a desirable thing.

It.

Wasn’t.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, as he saw Ethan sitting up and looking around.

“Where is Elizabeth? Where did she go?” he asked, that worry in his voice.

Gene calmed him down by explaining.

“Last night, I saw them climb out the window. Her and Callen headed out that way. Maybe they needed some cuddle time,” he said.

Oh, well, that made perfect sense, and Ethan knew it.

From not far away, Chris yawned and stretched as he sat up.

Well, that explained why he was feeling a little chilly. Normally, when you laid in a pile of bodies, you shared body warmth.

And he was alone.

Picking up his phone, he saw there was a text message on it. He must not have heard it go off when she texted him from Ethan’s phone.

‘Christopher, it’s me. Callen and I couldn’t sleep. We went inside to work. Tell Ethan that I have his phone. I couldn’t wait for a profile. I needed to see it. We wanted to talk to Wyler about the people he knew here who disappeared. Love you. Bethe.’

Because she mentioned their other mate, he handed the man his phone, and immediately, Ethan calmed down.

Okay, well, he could breathe again.

The panic that she’d been abducted was gone, and he could focus once more.

Gene reassured him as he read over his shoulder.

“See? The Energizer Lyzee keeps going, and going, and going,” he said. “If I didn’t know she ran on angst and caffeine, I’d think she did speed.”

Chris laughed.

“If you think she is bad now, imagine her twenty years younger. If I didn’t tell her she was crazy, she would have put a treadmill beside our bed so she could roll out of sleep and work out within seconds.”

They all laughed.

Yeah, that sounded like her.

“Coffee,” Gene said. “If I don’t get some, I’m going to be a bitch today.”

Well, no one wanted that.

They all needed to be on their games.

Picking up all of the blankets and pillows, Gene pulled the trapdoor, and they saw Muriel right there. Clearly, they had a changing of shift.

“Hey,” she said. “Morning. Elizabeth and Callen are inside. They were up most of the night.”

Well, that was the most normal thing.

Together, they headed down, one-by-one. When they reached the ground, Chris looked around.

“I love waking up to the silence of the trees and woods,” he admitted. “Camping is fun.”

Muriel laughed.

She’d just gotten on duty, and Demeter was taking a few hours of downtime. Before he went off duty an hour ago, he clued her in.

“It wasn’t silent last night.”

All three of them looked over at her.

“What does that mean?” Ethan asked.

She pulled out her phone and read the report that Michael had filed for Ivan, and copied all of them so everyone was on the same page.

‘At roughly zero one hundred, the sounds of an odd whistle rang out through the grounds. We locked down the Blackhawks in the treehouse, until Elizabeth and Callen were awoken by it.

Elizabeth refused to let us patrol the woods, and instead, she and Callen climbed out of the tree to ensure Wyler, who was alone inside, was safe. They remained inside for the night, and were still there as I went off shift at zero five hundred.

Gene, Ethan, and Chris remained inside the treehouse and is currently being guarded by Muriel.’

When Gene read that, he didn’t like it.

Not.

At.

All.

Ethan either.

“It’s taunting her, and us. It’s trying to remind us that it’s watching, and can get to us at any time.”

Well, that was alarming because it could.

Thank God the kids and family were safely tucked away at the hotel. They just needed to get this solved so they could ensure Elizabeth’s safety.

Blackhawk handed Muriel her phone back.

“Thank you for letting us know,” he said.

She tapped her fingers against her temple.

“No problem, bosses.”

Carrying their things, they headed toward the back of the cabin, and to the door that accessed the kitchen.

“I don’t like that at all,” Chris stated.

Yeah, them, either.

Being stalked wasn’t fun.

Once inside, they found the automatic coffee maker already on, proving that their woman set it, and both her and Callen passed out on the big sofa in the living room.

Apparently, they had finally opted to get some sleep.

To give them as much time as they could, they put the pillows and blankets on the floor near the couch, and let the two of them crash until the last possible moment.

As they poured coffee, the front door opened, and they were surprised.

In came Takoda and Caryn.

In warning, Ethan touched his lips, and then pointed toward the couches. Both of them tiptoed past them, and into the kitchen.

Once there, Takoda hugged all three of the men. He was in all black, and dressed oddly like…security.

Only, they didn’t question it. Instead, they went with the big one.

What are you doing here? Chris asked, signing so they made no noise.

Takoda grinned.

Can’t a guy miss his family and come see them on the reservation?

Uh, sure.

Only, Takoda was a Marine, an active-duty one. He was locked down at Marine Base Quantico, where he was assigned to work crimes. It wasn’t like he could just opt to take a little scenic trip West on a whim.

They knew when he had leave, and that wasn’t until Christmas. So something was most definitely up.

He continued signing.

I heard mom got into trouble yesterday. I’m glad to see she’s okay. When can I wake her?

Oh, well, they had news for him.

She was already sitting up and staring at her son. It was damn difficult to surprise Elizabeth. She was the lightest sleeper, Gene being a close second.

Gene pointed toward something behind Takoda, making him turn around.

When he saw her, he grinned.

“Hey, Momma,” he said, pouring her some coffee and meeting her halfway.

She wrapped her arms around her son, and held onto him. Whenever she saw him, Elizabeth was overjoyed. Her baby wasn’t a teen anymore.

He was a grown-ass man with an almost fully-developed frontal cortex. She only hoped he didn’t make a break from it and was now AWOL.

“I missed you, baby bird,” she said, as Callen woke up and sat up.

The last part of what she’d said got his attention, and he began looking around.

That’s when he saw Takoda.

“Is that my handsome boy?” he asked, getting up.

His son passed coffee off to his mother, and then gave his father his cup as he hugged him.

“Is Wyler upstairs?” Caryn asked, curiously.

She’d stayed away all night so that Elizabeth could handle the situation. That morning, she’d awoken to a text from Elizabeth saying that Wyler was getting chemo.

She had to get there to see him.

Gene pointed up.

“I’d assume. Unless he snuck away, in which case, he’s not going to need chemo. Ivan will hunt him down and kill him for Elizabeth.”

She laughed.

He wasn’t wrong.

“Thank you guys for talking some sense into him. Men are so stubborn and exhausting.”

Elizabeth clinked her cup off of Caryn’s.

“Mom, tell me about it,” she said.

As Caryn headed off, the front door opened again, and inside came Ivan, carrying a tablet.

“Morning,” he said. “I see that none of you got your asses abducted, or shot last night. I thank you for that, and so does my wife. Now, we can update before work, and get this shitshow on the road?”

She lifted a brow.

“My dude, let me have some coffee. I was up until four. I slept two hours. I won’t be shiny and pleasant until I have caffeine.”

When Ivan opened his mouth, Takoda shook his head.

“Don’t do it, Uncle Ivan. She’s next to you and will knock your ass over the back of that couch. Sometimes, your survival skills are questionable.”

He laughed.

Oh, well, this boy was about to be in the same boat as him, and he knew it.

They were both about to be boned by the Lyza-cranka-saurus.

“Thanks, Koda.”

Elizabeth stretched, and then sipped her coffee. That’s when she remembered one thing.

Her husband might want his phone back.

“I stole your phone,” she said to Ethan. “Mine’s in DNA lockdown. I hope that’s okay.”

Honestly, he didn’t mind.

Ethan was grateful that he’s slept over five hours. After yesterday being one hell of a day, and the last week just as horrific, she could have his phone.

“No worries, Baby. I slept on the bear rug.”

Gene snorted.

“I mean, I’ve been called worse,” he joked, slapping Ethan on the ass because he was spicy this morning.

That’s how he liked him too.

Since she brought it up, Blackhawk was curious.

“What did you two do while you were up?” he asked, which caused Ivan to immediately put his hands over his ears.

She rolled her eyes.

“We worked,” she said. “Calm down, Toadstool. We interviewed Wyler about some things on the rez, and I started piecing this together with Ethan’s profile.”

She focused on him.

“It’s not often I get to read the profile right off of your drive. I think I like it better when you update me. You give it some spice and pizzazz.”

He was amused.

Well, if that was what she liked…

“Was there anything good?” Chris asked.

Ethan shrugged and shared.

“The bottom line is these individuals are NOT going to have mental issues due to Kuru or any other degenerative neurological diseases.”

The second he said it, Chris grinned.

“God. He’s so hot when he talks science,” he teased, winking at one of his spouses.

Immediately, Ethan gave him a kiss. He was just grateful that his mates wanted him for him.

“It’s like how I feel when you wear aqua scrubs,” he admitted.

As she sipped her coffee, Elizabeth was just happy that her whole family was doing better. Now, if they could just find this nut before he got someone else.

Like one of her husbands.

Ethan continued.

“As I was saying, this is going to be the mental disorder that’s more psychological or as you’d put it, Elizabeth, someone is cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.”

She snorted.

“I mean, in my defense, I didn’t coin that phrase. It just happens to work in this case.”

That it did.