Dead Shall Speak (An FBI/Romance Thriller Book 10) (68 page)

“Suit up, Cowboy. We need to roll.”

                          *     *     *

Callen raced toward the room. As soon as he approached, he knew that something as horribly wrong. The door wasn’t secured, but instead open a crack.

His heart began racing.

Tony wouldn’t leave his room like that. They had tons of electronics, and even guns, inside. Immediately, his mind went there. This was a very bad sign.

Approaching the door, he was pissed that he didn't have his own gun. With the toe of his boot, he nudged it open.

The inside was a mess.

It looked like someone had tossed it, looking for something or someone.

Now, he was downright panicked.

Searching, he called out for both occupants. When no one replied, he knew the truth.

They weren’t shacked up in the bedroom, something bad had definitely happened.

As he approached what appeared to be the epicenter of the mess, Callen saw it.

There on the desk was his proof.

Scanning the note, he pulled a tissue from his pocket and carefully grabbed the corner.

Elizabeth had to see this.

NOW!

Tony’s life depended on it.

When he raced into the room, she was just strapping on her Kevlar. His face said it all.

“What happened?”

He held out the note.

She read it while he carefully held the corners.

“I’m going to boot his ass to Unemploymentville after I make him cry,” she stated. “If he went after this nut job, instead of coming to us with it, he’s shit canned!”

Ethan rushed over to read it. The second he did, he knew the truth. “We have to go now! We have two anthropologists to save. The minute Tony shows up there, he’s going to kill him and Jaxon. Then he’ll come back for the note. He’s tying up the loose ends in his life.”

“Johnny Antonio can’t have them,” she added, running to the door. “I’m going to kill Tony myself.”

                          *     *     *

It was a showdown.

It was just like an old western that you might find on TV. On one side of the room stood good, and the other was nothing but the spawn of pure evil.

Johnny Antonio held Jaxon tightly against his body, and it scared Tony to death. At first, he thought he could do this. Now, he saw how hard it was going to be.

How the hell did Elizabeth do this? There was an innocent life between him and the crazy man, and now that was on his shoulders.

Jaxon’s life depended on him.

God!

He needed back up.

If he could, he would have rewound the last hour and rethought the entire thing.

This wasn’t going to have a good outcome.

“We can talk about our mother all you want,” Tony began. “The truth will still be the truth. She didn't leave me of her own volition. She was taken by your father. He abducted her, just like you took all the women you killed. She didn't leave. She was stolen.”

The man got angry.

Tony knew he needed to take it easy.

Jaxon’s life depended on it.

“He didn't! He picked them because they were special. She was special to him, and to me. I’m the only child born from all those women. She gave him a life to love.”

Tony saw how twisted the man truly was.

“What happened to him?”

Johnny got quiet.

“You can tell me. We’re brothers.”

“He didn't want me to look for women. He told me I wasn’t ready. That I was stupid, lazy, and couldn’t do what he’d done. He’d taken thirty women and made them his, but he didn't trust that I could do the same thing.”

Tony tried to figure out how to play this.

Okay, he was going to be the man’s friend.

“He wasn’t being fair. You’re a grown man. You needed to find your way.”

“YES! I needed to.”

“So you fought with him?”

He nodded. “I didn't mean it. He hit me. I got mad, and I hit him back. He was so brittle. He broke in front of me.”

Tony took a step closer, his eyes never leaving the man’s face. If they did, he risked missing his intent to hurt Jaxon.

“What happened?”

“He fell. Then he stopped breathing.”

“You didn't bury him with the women, did you?”

He shook his head. “He’s in the shed out back. He used to send us there when we were bad. He was horrible father to hit me, so I sent him there as punishment. I just wanted him to learn his lesson. I miss him. I’m all alone.”

Tony thought he had him.

“I’m alone too,” he stated, trying to keep the man calm.

Johnny looked up, his eyes clouding with anger. “You’re going to join him in that shed. So is your wife.”

“She’s not married to me, yet, Johnny. Why don’t you let her go? Then we can talk.”

He hesitated.

“She’s not your wife?”

He shook his head. “I don’t have a wife like yours,” he added, motioning toward Bonnie.

It appeared to be that he was thinking about it. Then the tides changed. Tony could see the mask of hate and anger cover his face.

“No, she’s dying with you! I’ll be the only one in this family who managed to do what my dad did.”

Shit!

He’d lost him.

“She’s dying first. Then you!”

When he went to hurt Jaxon, and Tony heard that whimper of pain, he knew what he had to do. He had to get the man to hate him.

“Our mother never loved you,” he said, drawing the man’s focus.

Now, he’d piss him off.

Maybe he’d charge him.

“What did you say?”

“Your father kidnapped and raped her, just like you did to Bonnie. You’re just as bad as he was. You’re nothing more than a sick fuck and rapist.”

Jaxon and Bonnie’s eyes went wide.

He stayed focused on the man.

“Yeah, well, our mother never mentioned you. So, she didn't miss you at all.”

Tony shrugged. “She told me about you.”

His eyes lit up. “Did she?”

“Want to know what she said?”

He lowered the knife from Jaxon’s throat.

“YES! I miss her! She’s been gone a long time.”

Tony could see this guy was crackers. “She told me you were the one she didn't love. She had you because she had to. Our mother thought you were a weak, scared, little nobody. She laughed about you.”

The rage was there.

“No!”

Tony braced for it.

“Yes. You were a mistake.”

Sanity snapped.

Well, Tony poked the psycho, and here it came.

The man howled in pain before pushing Jaxon aside to rush him.

Tony watched her fall, and then saw the knife go up as the man who shared his DNA raced toward him.

So it began.

                          *     *     *

She was three days beyond pissed.

Elizabeth was swamped with irrational fear and needed to kick someone’s ass.

When she got her hands on Tony, he was screwed. Friendship or not, she was going to make him cry. If anything happened to him, she was going to be crushed.

As Ethan drove like a maniac, they all held on. When they turned down the back road, she pulled her sidearm, checked to see that it was ready to go, and reholstered.

“When we get there, we spread out. Get to Tony and Jaxon. I’ll take care of Johnny Antonio.”

They didn't argue.

They knew the truth. If you were being held, you wanted Elizabeth going through the door first. Her excellent skill at shooting was going to work in your favor.

As the Denali slid to a stop, they all bailed.

“Move,” she hissed, racing toward the door.

On the outside, she was pissed, but on the inside, she was scared shitless that they were going to be too late.

                          *     *     *

Tony had little time to react. As the man barreled toward him, he went for his gun. He’d seen Elizabeth do it a million times, and it looked so easy.

It was deceiving.

He got hooked on his shirt, slowing his reaction time down. By the time he had the weapon in front of him, his brother had struck.

The downward arch of the blade slashed toward his chest and barely glanced off his vest. Thankfully, he had the common sense to put it on.

Instead of giving him a second chance to stab him, he pulled the trigger once.

The loud pop startled everyone in the room—
including Tony.

He’d never killed anyone before or fired a weapon into someone’s body point blank.

The man stumbled back.

He looked…surprised.

Tony couldn’t take any chance that he’d come at him again, or go for one of the women. He fired two more times, hitting his target. If it came down to taking the life of his brother to save Jaxon, there would be no hesitation.

She would always be his first thought.

As he fell back, there was a splintering of wood.

Tony spun, pointing the gun at the door. The second he saw it was Elizabeth and Callen, he relaxed.

She wasted no time. Rushing toward him, she yanked the gun from his hand.

“Are you insane?” she asked, moving toward the man on the floor. The trio of circular stains on his shirt told the tale. Her anthropologist took his life.

Well, shit!

Tony didn't hear a word she said. Between the echo of the gunshots and the pounding in his heart, he was going numb. Then, he focused on his fiancée.

She was watching him with tears streaming down her face.

Thank God, she was okay. Yet he couldn’t cross to her. His whole body felt…discombobulated.

Callen pushed past their anthropologist and headed toward Bonnie Anston. She was weeping as he knelt beside her. “It’s okay, honey. We’re the FBI. You’re going to be okay.”

She sobbed more.

Jaxon was up and rushing him. “Tony!” she said, going into his arms.

“It’s okay, Jaxy. I have you.”

Tony held her.

He was so grateful to have her back.

Ethan Blackhawk entered the room. He’d been busy securing the house while they went in. It was hard at first to not be at Elizabeth’s side, but he trusted his brother to get it done.

Immediately, he saw what no one else seemed to notice. “Tony, you’re bleeding,” he said, moving toward the man. With gentle fingers, he ripped open the sleeve of his shirt.

He didn't care. Jaxon was sobbing in his arms, and he was struggling to get her out of her restraints.

She was all that mattered.

Ethan glanced over at his wife. Elizabeth was on the phone with the tech team. She needed to get them there to start processing the scene.

She also needed a body bag.

Her anthro had taken a life.

This was one hell of a mess.

“Get Chris here too. Tony’s arm doesn’t look too bad,” Ethan stated. “He can probably check him out.”

She gave the order. When she hung up the phone, her face was completely blank.

As she approached, Tony looked up at her. “Elizabeth…”

She cut him off. “What you did was risky and very wrong. Not only were you playing Russian roulette with your life, but you threw these two women into the mix. I get that you wanted to save the girl, but this is the cold hard truth…you jacked this up. You killed him, and that’s going to be a clusterfuck for us,” she stated, pointing at herself and Ethan.

Tony swallowed. He’d never seen her this mad before.

“You’re not an agent. You’re a doctor. I now have to explain how he was shot, in his home, by his half-brother, who was hell bent on vengeance. You killed the man who abducted your fiancée. That’s a freaking mess, Tony.”