Page 9 of Chaos has a Name (An FBI Romance/Thriller #66)

Honestly, it wasn’t only about her attachment to Wyler. CJ and EJ loved their grandfather. He was a big part of their world, and losing him…

This was going to suck.

How were they going to say goodbye to the man? That would break both of them, and they would need time to process this.

While everyone died, the long goodbye was torture. She didn’t want that for her kids.

Speaking of the runner in question…

“Where is he?” she asked.

While cuddling Oliver, she pointed at the trees behind the cabin.

“Supposedly, he’s hunting. He’s done this for three days straight.

He spends hours in the woods, and comes home with a deer.

He skins it, processes it, and puts it in a freezer.

It’s like he’s making up for lost hunting time.

I hope everyone wants deer for dinner. We have three freezers full of venison. ”

Someone wasn’t handling this well either.

Apparently.

She knew her father-in-law, and that wasn’t ‘I’m okay’ behavior. It was anything but.

Because she had shit to do, and couldn’t wait around for him to come back from hunting, it was time to deal with her job.

Yeah, Elizabeth looked at her watch, and while she’d love to hang out here, waiting for the man to show up, she knew the truth.

She was on the clock.

“I’m going to get to the office. I have to get this handled there, and then, I’ll find Wyler. If he comes back, Uriel, and Muriel, I want him trapped in a chair and not able to move. When I say you have my permission to hold him prisoner, I’m not kidding. Do it.”

Uriel nodded.

“I’ll burn some herbs, and cleanse his Chi. It feels off here,” he admitted.

Oh, something was definitely off.

Wyler.

He was off his rocker if he thought that they weren’t going to have a talk about this, and she wasn’t going to talk some goddamn sense into him once and for all.

“Big guy, give him a colonic for all I care. Just make sure he’s here when I get done. It’s his day of reckoning. He and I have to have a talk.”

Uriel understood.

He was willing to bet that no one was going to enjoy that conversation. It was crystal clear that Elizabeth was upset and beyond him abandoning ship and running here.

“On it, boss.”

She pointed at Callen, Chris, Ethan, and Gene.

“Let’s go face down a full office of people who don’t want me here ruining their fun. Our team is going to be en route there once they land. God. My life is so exciting and annoying at the same time,” she muttered.

They knew what she meant.

Axelle had shuffled people around to make all of this happen. Elizabeth had a new secretary, a new space, and countless people who never had to work under her.

Oh, they were going to be spicy.

But so was she.

On top of that, Ethan saw that his wife was falling apart at the seams over this.

It was subtle, but if you knew her well enough, you’d see it.

Yes, when they found out, Ethan and Callen had been so incredibly upset, but Elizabeth…

She was taking this hard.

Wyler wasn’t the only one having a ‘come to Jesus talk’ in the near future. It appeared that his wife needed one too if she stayed on this collision course.

And he was the one up to bat.

Of the three men, he was the one who would be able to understand and sympathize with her anger.

God knew he lived in the rage for so many years—and survived it.

Before she left, Elizabeth laid down the law.

“Ivan, minimal security on me. Keep most of them here on the kids.”

Before he could protest, she stopped him.

Oh, never let it be said she didn’t know where he would take it.

She did.

“Chris will be in the morgue. The building is locked down. He’ll be safe. Ethan, Gene, Callen, and I will literally be in a locked building too. CJ and EJ are hellions,” she said, as they ran past her, and climbed up the totem pole to see who could make it to the top first.

The spider monkeys were spider monkeying, and that proved her point. They needed more coverage on the children than the adults in the office.

For Ivan, it was best not to argue this.

So, he backed down.

He glanced over at the two wealthiest men in the family who normally bought buildings for shits and giggles.

“I know she already said this, but we need a location with a fence,” he said. “She doesn’t need to see it. Just do it. We won’t be able to contain this once the media sees she’s here. They’ll be in the yard, and peeping in the windows.”

They knew he was right.

Despite her saying she was getting Wyler out of here, they couldn’t delay. Worst-case scenario, they could sell whatever they bought, or rent it out.

The risk of something happening to one of their kids outweighed any money spent.

Besides, it was giving them a distraction. It was buy a house and properties to sustain them while they were here, or it was rage eat because Callen was pissed at his father for running.

That seemed like a more detrimental option to them.

The bottom line was that this endangered all of them—adults also. The kids weren’t the only ones in danger.

One whiff of this on the news, and the media would swarm this cabin so fast it would look biblical.

Anyone could come onto the reservation.

ANY.

ONE.

That included people who had a grudge and an ax to grind.

When it was time to move, it was time to move. Elizabeth wasn’t mincing words.

“Children, listen to Grandma, Coraline, and security. If I as so much get one call that someone is being bold, I’m coming back, and there won’t be any pizza or ice cream for a month!”

CJ and EJ gasped.

Yeah, she wasn’t playing. She was hitting them right where it hurt.

FOOD.

As she headed toward her vehicle, she went to the trunk, grabbed her suit bag, and began heading toward the cabin.

Everyone else waited.

“She’s pissed,” Gene said. “Someone is going to have to defuse that bomb. When Elizabeth is angry, she’s more than likely to bitch slap people.”

Ethan was aware.

“I’m up to bat. When we get to the office, make yourselves scarce.

Give me a few to help her work through this.

She’s more than angry. She’s hurt that Wyler shut us all out.

Right now, she’s trying to figure out what she did to deserve not to be told in person.

I’m with her on that. Our father made a mess. ”

Honestly, that was the truth.

Chris patted the man on the back.

“If you need backup, EJ, I’m here,” he said. “I don’t mind.”

He appreciated that.

While he was still rattled about what had happened in Philadelphia, he could see the woman he loved struggling. His focus had to shift, and that was his priority.

When he was off his game, she had his back, and now, he’d do the same.

Or try anyway.

“If I can’t talk her down, I’ll tag you in. We started here, and I’ll get through to her. She isn’t fond of Damascus.”

None of them were.

It brought back memories they didn’t want to have to relive.

For Chris, he’d watched Cyra die in a house fire set by a serial killer, and he’d almost lost his child.

Had Wyler not saved Bethe…

Yeah, it had been close.

As for Callen, he had been trapped here, waiting for the love of his life to find him. He’d had to learn the hard way that Desdemona wasn’t the person for him. It had been a betrayal of his heart.

Leaving had set him free.

With Gene, he’d had to come here to watch Ethan get married to Elizabeth, and come to grips with the fact that he’d lost his soulmate to someone else.

It forced him to carry the burden that he’d done this to himself.

And for Ethan…

He had to come back here and struggle to find the man he’d once been with Gene, while starting his life as Elizabeth’s husband.

It had been a struggle.

Yeah, no one loved it here.

NO.

ONE.

Would they ever be able to make amends with their time here?

That was a question none of them knew the answer to. One would have to wait and see.

Everyone was praying she talked Wyler down.

ASAP.

As the front door to the cabin opened, five minutes later, Elizabeth stood there. She was in her armor and battle gear.

She was dressed to the nines in a designer suit, heels, and her hair pulled up. She was wearing glasses, and looked like…well, the Deputy Director of the FBI.

As usual, she looked absolutely beautiful in that librarian kind of a way that made them all go crazy. The men would never get tired of seeing this side of their woman.

“Jesus,” Chris said. “That never gets old.”

Oh, they all knew what he meant.

“She cleans up real nice,” Callen said.

Ethan agreed.

“This brings back memories,” he admitted, as she headed their way.

Good.

And.

Bad memories.

“If you say so,” Gene said, that whole sexy fantasy lost on him.

Elizabeth wanted to get this done.

“Let’s go try to reassimilate into an office full of people who are NOT going to be cheering for our arrival,” she said.

As Gene held the car door open for her, she got a glimpse of herself in the window reflection.

And she was miserable.

God help her.

But they were back where it all started.

AGAIN.

* * * The Blackhawk Family * * *

The Other Side

Of The Rez

Nine Thirty A.M.

As Rayna followed her deputies into the woods, they lost track of the blood trail that had started just outside of Thomas Adila’s home.

Because that trail went MIA, this called for a different method of handling it.

Not willing to waste time, or lose the scent, she brought in some back up.

Her hunting dog, Beau.

He was good at following a scent, and she knew she could trust his snoot.

Well, most of the time.

Today, unfortunately, he walked them in circles as if he had lost the trail.

Well, shit.

They went toward a pile of rocks that looked more like a hill, Rayna was just about ready to call it a morning with the dog, when he found the trail again.

He was smelling something.

But what?

When he bolted toward the opening in the trees, and to a camping site that the Natives used willie-nilly when they didn’t want to travel back to their cabins for the night, she was pretty sure he was off the mark.

Was this really the spot?