Choices will Destroy (An FBI Romance Thriller Book 14) (7 page)

She’d broken the law, stolen a life, and played judge, jury, and executioner.

Literally.

Now, she was going to have to pay for her sins, much like the criminals she hunted. No one was above the law.

Callen knew she was scared. “Remember when she told us about that one thing that she did that wasn’t so sterling?”

Ethan thought back to it. “In Red River?”

He nodded.

“Yes, how could I forget? It’s not every day that the woman you love admits to something like that.”

Callen spared her having to repeat it again. This time, he told Ethan everything that Gabe had said to her. He left nothing out.

Immediately, Ethan’s face went cold. “What do you mean he’s back?”

Elizabeth glanced up. “I killed him, Ethan. I know it was wrong, but Gabe said he’s back. There’s a body in his yard, the letter admitting it’s him, and the medallion. It’s all there. This can’t be a prank. There are too many similarities. No one knew about the medallion.”

Ethan’s blue-black eyes met Callen’s brown ones. A silent message was passed between them. There was no way in hell anyone was taking their pregnant woman from them. Yes, she broke the law, but they’d have to go through them first. Elizabeth had dedicated her life to upholding justice. It was all because of that fateful night. She bled for the FBI because of it, and as far as they were concerned, she’d done her time for the crime.

“Are you sure it was him?” he asked.

“We had a profiler give us the heads up. He led us right to him. He fit everything down to a T.”

Ethan swallowed.

It was all coming back to him.

He’d given Gabe a profile for the
‘Irish Butcher’
. It was early in his career, and he’d been on a work bender. Any case he could help on, he took, and he never realized that he was the one who pointed Elizabeth down this path.

He started to feel sick.

“Livy said it was him. I worked that case and knew it was him. The man lied, and I tracked him down. There have been no killings since that day, and now fifteen years later it starts back up? I couldn’t have been wrong, could I?”

Callen ran his good hand up and down her back. “It’s okay, angel. We have you.”

“I can’t go to jail,” she whispered. “I have my babies. They need me. I need them. I don’t want to die without them.”

The men knew how serious this was.

“Gabe told her she has to investigate this or someone else will. Our only saving grace is that he’s still the boss man. He has it under control for now,” Callen offered.

Blackhawk totally got it.

If anyone else worked this case, then there would be the risk that the truth would come out. If this was the killer, resurfacing, they had to hope that no one would find out the truth. As far as he knew, only Gabe, Elizabeth, Callen, and himself knew that she’d done the deed.

They were going to keep it that way.

No matter what, they would be taking this to their graves.

Normally, he wouldn’t want them out in the field, but it looked like they didn't have a choice. They were going in to save their woman.

“So let’s get ready to go. I’ll call dad and let him know we’re heading out. Callen, get to the house and have Cindy help you pack up our gear. We’ll need to grab our clothes, you both need a sidearm, and I’ll grab our Kevlar. If this is the
‘Irish Butcher’
, and he’s back, we’re going to make sure this time he stays dead. This time, we’re taking him down once and for all.”

Callen jumped up, dropped a kiss to her lips, and then gave her a reassuring smile. “You’re safe. If we have to, we’ll get you hidden. No one is taking you away from us. We promise. If worse comes to worse, we all go under on some reservation somewhere.”

She sniffled.

Ethan patted his brother on the arm. “Go, Callen. I want to be in the air in less than one hour. We have a lot of work to do.”

Callen rushed out, and Ethan headed to his desk. “I’m going to call Gabe.”

“We need to bring in one of our ME’s,” she said. “I don’t trust people we don’t know, Ethan. Gabe has his people, and I have mine.”

“Okay, then we do it,” he stated. “Who are you bringing?”

She thought about it. “Chris. He was there. He was the original ME on duty. That was our first big case together. I trust him.”

“What if you have to tell him?” he asked. “Do you think he’ll keep it quiet?”

Elizabeth closed her eyes and thought back to that case. Her life was vastly different now, and it seemed like so long ago. Yet, not a day went by that she didn't recall the entire thing. That one defining moment had been a reoccurring nightmare for her.

There was before she pulled the trigger.

And there was after she pulled it.

Her life was divided into two timeframes.

That one choice changed everything for the fifteen years to follow.

“Lyzee?” he asked again, breaking her daydream. “Can we trust him?”

“Yes, we can. I’d put my life in his hands. Back then, when it all went to shit, Chris was the only one who had my back. If it weren’t for him, I’d never have gotten through it. When I was broken, Chris nursed my heart back from the brink.”

Ethan thought about it. “Okay, talk to him. We’ll see what happens, and when we can’t keep him out anymore, we’ll let him in.”

She agreed.

Ethan handed her a tissue. “I’ll call Gabe. Why don’t you head down to the lab? I think we should bring Merry too.”

Elizabeth wiped her eyes and nodded.

“Okay, Ethan.”

“It’s going to be okay, baby. I swear to you that I won’t let you fall under this. I’m going to help you fix it. I’m going to wash this stain from your hands once and for all.”

“I wish I’d met you back then,” she said, standing. “Maybe you would have changed my life. Maybe I wouldn’t have done this had I had a decent man like you in my life.”

His heart skipped.

Oh, God!

His wife must not know the truth about all of this. Elizabeth didn't have a clue that he was the profiler who left the information on her desk for Gabe.

He’d given her the advice that led her right to the man she killed.

Ethan could feel his heart squeezing in his chest. All he could hope now was that she’d not hate him for it. How could he not feel responsible?

When his wife left, he picked up the phone and made the call. Gabe answered on the first ring.

His voice said it all.

“How bad is this?” Ethan asked. “I need to know before we roll into this mess.”

Gabe got quiet. “I’m assuming that you know everything. Did she fill you in?”

“Yes.”

“It’s bad, Ethan. I have a destroyed body in my back yard. To make it more high profile, it’s the man I worked under and eventually replaced. His body wasn’t put here by accident.”

He didn't doubt that in the least.

Ethan had a sick feeling that this was about to go bad, and fast.

“We’ll be there. I’m bringing in Chris Leonard to do the autopsy. Keep your people away from the victim.”

“Oh, Jesus! This is like my worst nightmare. I used to ride his ass about being a shitty ME, and now he’s going to hold all of our lives in his hands. That’s ironic. I hope you have control over him.”

“I don’t need it. He’s loyal to Elizabeth.” Ethan knew how true that was. Chris Leonard loved his wife. They were bonded well before he arrived on the scene.

They were family.

Now he saw why.

This built the foundation of their lives.

“I have to stay calm.”

“You have no choice, Gabe. We’re on our way.”

There was a pause as he said something to someone who knocked on his door. Then he was back on the phone. “We’re locking down my back yard. I have agents keeping it secure, and as of yet, there hasn’t been a media leak. I’ll keep this contained as long as I can, Ethan. You three just get here.”

“Technically, Callen can’t be in the field without his badge.”

“I’ll ignore that. Let’s just not bring it up, and go from there.”

“Okay, Gabe. We’ll handle it.”

He was glad. Once they hit the ground, there was no doubt that the shit was going to hit the fan. The media liked to dig. Gabe had to keep his fingers crossed on this one.

“Gabe, between the two of us, who really knows about this?” he asked, unable to say the words.

“I’m being honest, Ethan. No one has a freaking clue,” he whispered, keeping his voice down. “Livy doesn’t even know. It’s her, me, and you.”

“Add Callen to that list.”

“Okay.”

There was a pause.

“What?” Blackhawk asked.

“When Seamus O’Brien was shot, the city ME handled the original autopsy. I sent Chris Leonard there to abscond everything. Doctor Leonard might suspect something is up.”

Ethan wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

“Why the director?” he asked. “Why do you think the killer targeted him? We need to know everything to make sure we have all our bases covered.”

Gabe thought about it. “He’s the one who wanted Livy and Lyzee on this case. When they came up in the rotation, he insisted that they be the ones who worked it.”

Ethan pondered it.

“They were newbies, why were they picked for something so high profile?”

“Livy was bait. From the start, the director wanted her in the path of the killer.”

The words killed Gabe. For the last fifteen years, he’d carried this burden on his shoulders. He’d let
‘The Butcher’
rape his woman, and it was all because he failed her.

It was still haunting him.

“Elizabeth doesn’t know I profiled it for you. What did you tell her?” Ethan asked.

“I never mentioned your name. You were simply an up and coming profiler. You didn't even sign your name on the profile. If I remember correctly, you initialed it.”

He had done just that.

“She may hate me for this. I pointed her at him. This is on my shoulders too.”

Gabe got quiet.

“I need everything you have on this case. I’m going to have to go back and rework everything. If I was mistaken, and I pointed her at the wrong person, I’m just as culpable in this as she is,” Ethan stated.

Gabe wished it was going to be that easy. “We have nothing to give you, Ethan. I had everything destroyed. There’s nothing left. The files…”

“Not in the cold case box?”

He laughed at the irony. Gabe never saw this day coming. Maybe he’d been ignorant to think it was buried, but he didn't think they’d be revisiting this.

“Oh, there’s a box, only there’s nothing in it. I asked Chris Leonard to collect and purge. As far as I know, it’s all gone. It was wiped. I was pretty sure that there couldn’t be a copycat—not from our end.”

Then again, this had to be a copycat. Hopefully, he was wrong.

“Okay, I’m going to have to come clean with her. I’m going to need to pick hers and Livy’s brains.”

Gabe hated that.

The last thing his wife needed was this.

“Ethan, I don’t want my wife involved in this. It damaged her. It took years for her to forget, and now the wounds are reopened.”

He got that, but it didn't matter.

“Elizabeth sacrificed for you both, Gabe. She put it on the line so you wouldn’t do the crime. Now, you’re going to have to put it on the line for her. I’m not letting my wife go down for this. It’s time to pay her back, and that means your wife is going to have to help reconstruct this case for me.”

“She doesn’t know,” he whispered. “Livy doesn’t know what happened. She thinks he left the city. Seamus O’Brien isn’t the name he gave her when she interviewed him. She doesn’t have a clue, Ethan.”

Ethan didn't know what to say.

“Well, it looks like everyone is going to be in for a shock, Gabe. Elizabeth doesn’t know I’m the profiler, Livy doesn’t know what my wife threw away for her. It’s judgment day, and we’re all in this now, whether we like it or not.”

He sighed. “My kids are being moved. You three can stay here.”

Ethan had news for him.

“The whole team is staying there, and we have to hope and pray that we can trust them to do their job and keep one hell of a secret.”

“You can’t tell them.”

“Gabe, I don’t have a choice. This is a clusterfuck, and we’re all screwed.”

“Jesus,” he muttered.

“Yeah, good idea. Pray. We’re going to need it. I’ll hold back as long as I can, but we’re running out of options.”

“Get here fast.”

“We’re working on it.” With that, he hung up the phone to get ready. He wasn’t looking forward to what was coming. Already, his gut was churning, and he was scared.

Ethan was afraid of what this might cost them.

Of
WHO
it might cost them.