Pledging to Die (An FBI/Romance Thriller Book 11) (49 page)

Before Johanna could say anything, Brody kissed her. It was awkward because his lips were split and swollen. Still, she didn't mind.

This was something she nearly lost.

“You shouldn’t have come after me!” she demanded, after she broke free of his mouth. “You should have called in backup and came with them.”

He stared into her serene brown eyes. “I couldn’t do that, sweetheart. They were going to hurt you. How could I, as a man, live, knowing I let that happen to you? I had to come. Besides, it all worked out.”

She laughed, and her head pounded in response. “Yeah, we barely survived this one. We lucked out.”

“I’m feeling very lucky,” he stated, as she cuddled closer.

“Brody?”

“Yeah, sweetheart?”

“Move in with me. I want to do this every night when we’re at home together.”

He stared at her. “Holy shit! They’re definitely giving me the good drugs—that’s for damn sure. I could have sworn you just asked me to be your bed buddy on a long term basis!”

She laughed. “Well, I figured we’ve had sex, are probably going to get fired, and now we’re sharing a hospital bed. What’s left?” she asked.

“Me killing you,” stated Elizabeth from the doorway.

Both agents looked over, and they knew the end of the world was upon them. In fact, the big indicator was when Callen and Ethan stayed outside as they closed the door.

“How cozy,” she stated. It reminded her when she’d been hurt, and Ethan climbed into bed with her. In that moment, some of the anger ebbed away.

Brody went to speak, and she pointed at him. “Whose idea was it to break into the rooms and search?” she asked.

Of course he went to raise his hand, but Johanna wouldn’t let him. “It was me. I sprung it on him as he was heading down to the party. In fact, he told me it was a horrible idea and had nothing to do with it. I was on my own.”

She stared at her. “Well, you’re an idiot. You could have died. What you did was absolutely insane, and obviously there’s no sense of preservation between you. Brody, you should have stopped her, and Johanna, you should’ve listened to Director Blackhawk. We don’t give orders for our health. We’ve done this longer than you have.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am.”

“Are we fired?” Brody asked. “Are you pulling our badges?” He hated that idea, since that gold shield was all he ever wanted in life…well, before Johanna.

“I should. In fact, Jason Blaise is already on his way back to Quantico to be Gabriel Rothschild’s bitch. It would serve you both right if I sent you back too. The more the merrier as far as I’m concerned.”

They both swallowed.

“What did he do to earn that?” Johanna asked.

She told him what he did, leaving nothing out. She wanted them to know how damn close they came to being hurt.

Immediately, Brody was angry. “He risked her. I’m going to kick his ass.”

She stopped him. “No, you’re not.”

“Why?”

“Instead, you’re going to follow my instructions. Listen to what I’m about to tell you, memorize it, and don’t ever bring it up again. This is the only
‘get out of jail’
free card you’ll ever get from me.”

They knew how lucky they were. Elizabeth Blackhawk was tough, and when they missed information on the last case they worked with her, she nearly skinned them alive.

“You were instructed to stay in Brody’s room for your own safety, but you thought you heard a girl screaming for help. Since your partner was downstairs, you irresponsibly tried to assist without calling it in. You actually believed it was some partier, and nothing more. Only, when you entered Arman Smithfield’s room, you were ambushed by Nels Lucas.”

They stared at her in total disbelief.

Elizabeth Blackhawk had just saved their jobs.

“Everything after that remains the same. Are we clear?” she asked.

Both agents nodded.

“Before I go handle the mess, I need you to look at a picture,” stated Elizabeth, showing Johanna the dead woman’s face. “Who is she?”

“That’s Harli Mercola. She’s one of the sisters in the sorority. Her room is two doors down from mine in the dorm.”

Then it hit her.

“The killer took her life, didn’t he?”

She nodded.

“That sucks. She was a nice girl.”

“We’ll get her justice,” Elizabeth promised. “You can bet on that.”

“We know you will,” they said at the same time.

“Well, good. Now you two need to rest, and I don’t think the hospital is going to like you both in the same bed. It took effort to pull this off,” she stated.

They could only imagine.

“If your father tries to run numbers while in here, Brody, call me. You two have made a big enough mess for us to clean up.”

He looked appalled that she knew the truth. “Ma’am…” he began.

“Son, please. Do you really think that your family is the only one with nuts in its tree? It’s not. Relax.”

“Director,” stated Joey. “When I was in their rooms, I found the needles and a book.” She told them everything.

“Great, now forget that you ever said that. I’ll have one of my partners head there to pick it up for court, but you’re going to play dumb. Got it?”

They nodded.

“Now, I’m going to head to the sheriff’s station to kick the shit out of five frat boys. It’s going to be the highlight of my day, especially since I didn't chew apart the asses of two idiotic agents.”

As she turned to leave, Brody called for her.

“Yes?”

“Thank you, Elizabeth.”

She feigned ignorance. 

“I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about,” she said, leaving the room. “You must have hit your damn head.”

Both agents relaxed.

They were safe—for now.

“Let’s sleep a little,” Brody suggested. “I’m sure a nurse will be in soon enough to make us sleep apart.”

“Brody?”

“Yes, Joey?” he replied.

“So, are you moving in with me?”

He laughed. “Yeah, Joey, I am because you couldn't keep me away.”

       
         
* * *
  B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x   * * *

Sheriff’s Station

As they headed in, it was eerily quiet. Pulling off her sunglasses, she noticed that the place was empty of deputies.

“Well, I hope there wasn’t a prison break,” she stated. “That would only add to the fun.”

Callen snorted. “Angel, you have a skewed sense of what’s exciting, and what’s terrifying.”

She was well aware.

Heading into the sheriff’s office, they found him doing paperwork behind his desk.

“Hey, Nick, where’s everyone? Is it half past beer-thirty, and they’re all out getting their drink on?”

He rolled his shoulders to alleviate the tension. “Well, Arman Smithfield is in an interview room with his daddy, and they’re as pissed as a hive full of hornets. They’re demanding he be released, so I have a deputy down there. Then I have one in the holding area trying to keep the other four men calm.”

She laughed. “He’s getting shipped to the jail. He’s not getting out even with his daddy throwing his weight around. We have him dead to rights, and we’re going to make him suffer.”

He laughed. “Good times, but before you do, I have a few things I need to discuss with you. Can you close the door?”

That alarmed her. She could detect the tension in his face, along with the serious tone in his voice.

Well crap!

What could this possibly be about?

Maybe a prison break would be a good thing right about now. Elizabeth didn't think what was coming was going to be all that much fun.

Callen shut the door behind them, and then took a seat.

“First off, one of the men is promising to testify against Arman. He swears that he can give us everything, but he wants leniency when this goes to court. He doesn’t want to be in the same prison as the rest of them.”

She contemplated it. Apparently, the rats were going to start bailing ship. It was probably the smartest thing they’d ever done in all their lives.

“If he’s going to turn state’s evidence, then we can make that happen.”

Then she went for it.

“By any chance is this Sutton Pontiac we’re talking about?”

He looked surprised. “Hell yeah! How did you know? He just told me he wanted to talk, and I was typing up the report as you walked in.”

She told him about the audio recording.

“He can sing all he wants. We were going to be a little less hard on him anyway, since he tried to stop them from hurting my agents. He’s still boned for raping drugged women, but he might avoid the chair on this one.”

“You Feds work fast.”

“We try.”

When they stood, he stopped them.

“Wait! There’s more, Elizabeth. We have a missing person report, and it’s a match to your dead victim.”

“Harli Mercola, right?”

Again, he looked surprised that she was aware of that. “It just came in. How did you beat us to the punch again?”

It was called doing her job. “You think we’re the FBI, and we run this by the seats of our pants, Nick? Come on. Our agent is awake, and I showed her a picture from the ME’s exam. She did the official ID for us.”

“Well, it’s good to know your team is efficient.” It brought him to the big situation they needed to discuss. “I also have a little problem, and I need a favor.”

Nick Rakin had been a decent cop to them, so she was more than willing to accommodate.

“What do I have to sell my soul to the devil for now?” she asked, staring him dead in the eyes.

Ethan didn't like any of this. He didn't want his wife helping this man with anything work related, let alone a personal favor. It pissed him off.

“This is hard,” he said.

“What?”

“One of my deputies was sleeping with Harli Mercola. When he found out it was her, he left for the day. He was pretty torn up. I know you’re going to want to talk to him, but can you keep it calm?”

She shrugged. “As long as we don’t find out anything scary in his closet, he should be fine.”

“He graduated from the university two years ago, and he was in Beta Phi Ti.”

They stared at him incredulously.

“Are you shitting me?” she asked.

Well, there went the whole part about nothing being in his closet. This was one hell of a skeleton.

“Let me get this straight. You have a deputy working here who was in the same frat, and you didn't find that to be a conflict of interest?”

“I can vouch for him. He’s a really good deputy. I wouldn’t BS you, Elizabeth. I know what you’re thinking, but you’re very wrong this time.”

She didn't care that he was a friend, or that this man was giving her a personal character reference on a deputy. It all came down to them withholding the information.

They’d seen some scary things when it came to killers, and the more normal the predator, the wickeder the crime.

That was a rule they lived by.

“When did you realize that he had been part of this frat, and might somehow be involved in this mess?” she asked.

He didn't lie.

From what he remembered about this woman, she wouldn’t take too kindly to it, and Nick couldn’t blame her for that.

“About three days ago when I started thinking about that campus cop, and how it could be someone these women trusted.”

“Oh, holy shit! The cop! We forgot to interview the freaking cop!” Elizabeth closed her eyes and tried to find her refocus. They’d been hit with body after body, and it was actually making her job harder.

Nick knew they were buried, so he handled it.

“I sent him home. He completely understands that you’re busy. I think he was a little freaked out when your team made him jerk off in a cup.”

Callen laughed, and then had to cover it with a cough.

Shrugging, she blew it off. “Well, that wasn’t me. It was my ME. He had his mad on.”

“That was a tad bit extreme, wasn’t it?” Nick asked, eyeing up the three of them.

Elizabeth was amused by the question.

This man had no clue.

“When you want to interview him, just let me know. I can call him in, and we can get it taken care of for you. I really meant what I said about helping the FBI out. I can see that you’re running hard on this one.”

Yeah, they really were.

She stared down at her watch. Her brain was fried, her body was worn down, and she still didn't have the DNA from the lab to compare to him. Today wouldn’t be a good day. Since they may only get one shot, it was best to go in with everything in place.