Pledging to Die (An FBI/Romance Thriller Book 11) (31 page)

She had a point.

Since she was running it, they had to trust her.

“Works for me,” stated Callen. He didn't mind doing paperwork. If it helped the team out that was fine with him.

Heading in, they could feel the tension and attitude in the room. Agent Flowers looked thrilled to see them, and that spoke volumes.

“We’re here to see what you have,” she stated, taking a seat across from her agent. When he didn't bother to look up, Elizabeth promised she’d stay calm.

“Did you run the frat boys like we requested?” Ethan asked, sitting beside his wife. Callen did the same, flanking her other side.

“Yes. We just finished not too long ago. I see you had another body last night. I would have gone to the scene,” he stated.

“We had it under control,” replied Callen, “but thank you for offering.”

“What frat members are you interested in?” Agent Flowers asked, pulling out a pile of papers. “We have a total of twenty done.”

Elizabeth read off the names, “Arman Smithfield, Hervey Westly, Sutton Pontiac, Garrick Tran, and Nels Lucas to start with.”

“If you only wanted those five, why did you waste our time, making us pull each and every one? It feels like you wanted us chasing our tails.”

She stayed calm.

It wasn’t easy, but she pulled it off.

“Once upon a time, there was a woman who called herself the boss. When she gave an instruction, it was followed and without being questioned. When people didn't do what she asked, they got fired, and that’s really all you need to know, Agent. Unless you’re asked for your opinion, you should keep it to yourself.”

He stared at her.

“What if I was wrong, and someone else was involved? You did the searches to eliminate that possibility. Now that we know there’s nothing to bite us in the ass, we can carry on with these five.”

“Understood.”

“Please share the information you found.”

Agent Flowers went first. “Garrick Tran is a freshman at the school. His family is second generation in the States, and it appears that they’re on the up and up. He has three sisters, and they’re all in medical school.”

Ethan made notes.

“That’s a lot of tuition.”

She nodded. “Yeah, I couldn’t find out if they were on scholarships or not, but they do have almost perfect GPA’s. When I searched their names, there are articles in their hometown paper singing their perfect grades.”

“Okay, continue.”

“This is his first year pledging too. He’s the whipping boy of the frat. I did a little research, and he’s no slouch in the grade department either.”

She stared at her. “How do you know that?”

“I contacted the president’s office and had them send over his first semester transcript. They didn't have a problem with it, and I hope I didn't do anything wrong.”

Yeah, Agent Blaise was stirring up the shit pot, making her team question her and themselves.

“Actually, that’s great. Way to think outside the box, Agent. As long as you’re not breaking any laws, you can use your instinct to lead you.”

She smiled. “Thank you, Director.”

Elizabeth focused on Agent Blaise. “Who’s next?”

“I dug around to find anything Sutton Pontiac. He’s the typical all American boy. His family life is normal, and he comes from the average nuclear family.”

She thought about it. “Does he have any past records?”

“There’s one sealed juvie file, but I couldn’t get access to that. Since it only happened once, and while he was seventeen, I’d likely go with the normal trouble. He likely got busted partying. Boys will be boys.”

Elizabeth let her gaze flicker to the men in her life. She knew what kind of trouble they’d gotten into in their misspent youth. She could only imagine what Sutton was guilty of doing. She wished she could get that record open. Elizabeth hated not having all the cards face up on the table.

“Great work. Who’s next?”

Agent Flowers spoke up, “I had Nels Lucas. He’s the big boy of the frat house. He’s about your size, Director,” she stated, glancing over at Callen. “For all intent and purposes, he appears to be the muscle and with good reason.”

Elizabeth dropped her hand on Callen’s leg, letting him know she loved that he was the muscle on their team. While Ethan was more streamlined, Callen’s bulkier frame came in handy—in bed—and when scaring the shit out of a suspect.

“He was All-American at his high school in a few sports, and he did a stint on the boxing team. Let’s just say you don’t want to meet him in a dark alley.”

That made total sense to Elizabeth.

It was likely the reason he’d been picked at the frat house to play bodyguard for Arman.

Despite his size, she wasn’t worried. Her team could handle some likely junked up steroid hound. Elizabeth would bet on her men any day. They may be double Nel’s age, but they had something he didn't.

Street smarts.

“His mother isn't in the picture,” stated Agent Flowers. “It was just him and his father. That could be why he majored in testosterone.”

Ethan began processing that.

“Anything else on him?” she asked.

“I also got his transcripts,” stated Agent Flowers. “He’s average when it comes to grades. Let’s just say the FBI wouldn’t be calling him in for an interview, despite his size.”

Elizabeth sat back in her chair to mull it over. “So, he’s not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he’s not the dullest either. That’s interesting.”

Callen was making notes. “Who’s up next?”

“I had Hervey Westly,” stated Agent Blaise. “I found a shitload of things on him. He was arrested for selling marijuana to his high school buddies. Hervey was small time, and the cops who busted him didn't give him a felony because the quantity was below limits.”

Yeah, he lucked out.

“So, we have women being drugged up, and a kid who knows his way around peddling. That’s going to be important. I can feel it.”

“His grades are bad, and he’s one step away from getting booted from school.”

“What’s keeping him here?” Callen asked, making notes for Elizabeth.

“His mommy has all the control. The last name may sound familiar if I drop the word state representative in front of it.”

Elizabeth closed her eyes. That was the
LAST
thing that she wanted to hear. Not only did they have Gabe on the hook for his college screw up, but they now had the kid of a state lawmaker.

Could this get worse?

Never mind.

She already knew the answer to that.

It was like the universe had conspired, trying to make their jobs as difficult as possible.

“Well shit.”

She could say that again.

“What about Arman Smithfield?” Ethan asked. If they were going to have a shitty time with it, why not get it all out there so they saw who they were working with?

“You’re not going to like this either,” stated Agent Flowers. “He’s got some money and a little prestige following him around.”

Oh, she already hated the entire thing.

“Hit me with it.”

“Judge Smithfield is his father.”

That was all she had to say.

“So, the head of a sex ring is the son of a judge?”

They both nodded.

Could this get any worse for them?

“Well, this is going to be one hell of a tap dance from here on out. We really need to make sure we run this by the letter of the law,” she said. “Is he local?”

Agent Flowers nodded. “Yep.”

That sucked seven ways to Sunday. Now if they needed a warrant, they weren’t going to be able to use the local judges to get one. That meant more stress, and if they found anything, the shit was going to hit the fan.

“I hate rich, entitled youth,” she stated, staring at her husband. “This is why I tell you to stop spoiling our kids.”

Blackhawk laughed. He and Callen came from absolute poverty. He wasn’t going to listen to his wife on this one, and if his kids were ever in trouble, he’d sure as hell use his title to pull rank.

When you had kids, you did everything to keep them safe. His wife was going to have to let this one go. Ethan wouldn’t compromise on his children’s happiness. It wasn’t their faults that their parents were high ranking Feds.

“I want you to keep digging on him,” she stated.

Agent Blaise slid a paper across the table. “He’s been arrested about twenty times, and each one magically went away. If he is the one who’s killing these women, good luck. You’re about to go to war with a judge.”

A part of him was amused. He’d love to see her pull this one off. It wasn’t going to be easy, and that might just knock the almighty Elizabeth Blackhawk down a peg or three.

“It’s probably why he was so in your face,” Callen offered. “He’s got nothing to lose. Daddy will keep him safe, and he’s ready to bank on that.”

Yeah, this was going to really suck.

“Okay. Well, great work. Keep digging, and if you find anything, send me a message. We’re going to be out doing interviews all day.”

“If you need help,” Agent Blaise offered. “We can pick up some of the slack.”

Normally, she’d toss her team a few bones, letting them help her out. Only this time, she had the children of a state representative and a judge.

This one had to be done right and without a single mistake. Any issues when they took it to court would be magnified tenfold and likely come back to bite them in the ass. 

This was a defense attorney’s dream case.

She was surprised they didn't have one of them too. Obviously, fate was a bitch.

Getting up, they headed back out to the morgue. The two ME’s were busily shaving the victim’s heads. The floaters were being done with razors, and Lori Denny with clippers.

The young ME was giddily doing the job, all the while trying not to pull off chunks of degrading scalp.

“We’ll check in later, Christopher,” she said, heading for the door. The second they cleared it, her phone began ringing.

When she looked down, she sighed.

“Buckle in, boys. Here comes the second shoe.”

They already knew who it was going to be. From the look on her face, there was no doubt.

“Hey, Gabe. How’s tricks?” she asked, as they headed toward the Escalade.

She actually had to pull the phone away from her head to save her eardrum. His tirade fueled bitching was proof that he was stirred up.

Maybe that wasn’t a good description.

Gabe Rothschild was flipping his shit.

When he finished, Elizabeth put the call on speaker before she spoke, “Good morning to you too, Gabriel. Actually for us, it’s still night, since we haven’t been to bed in over twenty four hours. You might want to get your dick out of a twist before you start screaming again. I’m prone to bark back when I’m cranky.”

“What the hell?” he said. “My morning was shot to shit when I got a call from the one person I don’t want to hear from on a good day. The president of the university is all stirred up and bitching about the school paper.”

Callen immediately pulled out his tablet and searched.

“Have you seen it?”

She tried to stay calm. “No, Gabe, I haven’t. I have a fresh body, and a whole mess going on here that involves a killer who’s switching it up, and suspects whose parents are elected officials. My morning is pretty shittastic too, so cut us a break.”

“Uh oh,” stated Callen, turning the tablet toward them. He found the online school paper, and it wasn’t pretty.

‘Mystery sorority girl the key to the entire killing spree. FBI cover up ongoing on our campus.’

Well shit!

This wasn’t good.

Not only were they outed on campus by some weasel, faux-reporter wannabe, but the target on Johanna’s back just got bigger. This was going to put her directly in the line of fire on this one.

“Please tell me that there are no photographs,” she muttered.

Callen scrolled, and there was a picture of Johanna and Broderick at the crime scene. “Yeah, I can’t do that.”

“Well, fuck me three ways to Christmas,” she said, rubbing her eyes.

“See?” Gabe said, over the phone. “I’m screwed, you’re screwed, and the agents are screwed. You need to fix this!”

With that, the phone went dead.

Callen closed the tablet. “I don’t know what he thinks you can do. If it wasn’t for Gabe, we wouldn’t have to be delicate.”

Oh, she was well aware. The only thing keeping her from blowing up the entire place was her agents’ lives. Other than that, she didn't give a shit.

“I love my job. I love my job. I love my job,” she muttered over and over again as she climbed into the vehicle. “It’s the best job in the whole damn world.”

Then she punched the dashboard and let out some animal like scream.