Pledging to Die (An FBI/Romance Thriller Book 11) (6 page)

“I need you both to go in and find out who is killing these women.”

Elizabeth stared at him. “These women? How many bodies were recovered?”

Gabe leaned back in his chair. “After Agent Madden found this one, the local authorities stepped in and did an extensive search of the school grounds. They found two more victims.”

“Where did they locate them?” Blackhawk asked.

“They were found in the pond on the campus. Someone weighed them down and dumped them. What started out as a string of disappearances has escalated to murder. We’re not talking a kidnapping issue, but one that’s far worse.”

“And you want to drop my wife into the middle of it?” Ethan stated laughing. “Uh, no. That boat has sailed.”

“I need her help. She’s the best agent out there.”

“Director,” Blackhawk corrected. “She’s not your hired gun, Gabe. She’s my wife and co-director of FBI West.”

“I know that but in the field, she smokes everyone I have. I need her to go in and investigate, but do it quietly. The university wants to keep this out of the news.”

She laughed. “Oh, well, we’re likely the two most recognized people in the world next to the Pope and Vladimir Putin. We can’t blend in with the surroundings.”

“I know, so that’s why I have a cover for you.”

Blackhawk couldn’t believe this. “You screwed us, Gabe, and now you want to use us?”

“Yes.”

“Not happening. While you’re our boss, and we have to do what you ask, we don’t have to take field work. I don’t want to end up screwed over and without you to back us up. Been there, done that. We had to restructure everything after the Oracle debacle. Nathaniel Carter refuses to run an office anymore. He’s sitting in some backwoods town playing standby agent. When he left, Lucas Mars bailed too. Major Gaines bailed, and Jagger Armstrong was so sickened by the holes in FBI security that he’s quit to do who knows what. This is a mess.”

“Elizabeth, please.”

She felt bad lying to him. At that moment, Avalon Miller was very much alive, and working with Nathaniel Carter on top secret assignments. Since they didn't trust this crap fest, they opted to keep everyone in the dark.

“Just hear me out.”

“What’s the cover?” she asked, ignoring the look her husband was giving her. She knew he wasn’t happy, but Gabe was family, and despite a few bumps in the road, that mattered to her.

“They have a teaching position where you can go in and give  guest lectures. It’s only one lecture, maybe two at the most, and then you’ll be there on campus to investigate.”

“I want my team in there with me.”

He hesitated.

“No,” Ethan stated. “She just came back from two months undercover. We have a baby at home. This has to stop. I never put my foot down, but it starts here. We nearly lost people. I’m declaring this request a big fat DENIED.”

Elizabeth cleared her throat. “Gabe, can I talk to Ethan alone?”

“I’ll go get some coffee.”

When the door closed, Blackhawk was up and out of his chair. “He threw our team to the wolves, called us crazy, and didn't trust us when we said the mole was in his office. Nathaniel Carter nearly died, and so did Avalon Miller. We cleaned up the mess, and the four of them can’t have Gabe’s fingers in the pot, Elizabeth. You know it.”

She got all that. “He’s my family, Ethan. Despite it all, he matters to me. When I screwed up, and Ray was hurt, he didn't rake my ass over the coals, I did that myself. Look at him! He’s hurting over this. Gabe was betrayed too. Now, we’re going to turn our backs on him? How does that make any of this right? We always swore when we ran the office, we wouldn’t dick anyone over. That should include him.”

He rubbed his eyes, and then ran his hands through his hair. “You’re the most infuriating woman on this planet. Your loyalty is pissing me off too.”

She laughed. “Well, then I’ll just go shack up with some other man and his brother to make me less loyal. Then you can have something else to be irritated with other than work.”

“I’ll beat you if you even think it.”

She snorted, going into his arms. “We’ll take the case, Ethan, and we’ll work it together. If he wants me to do it this badly, then he’s going to play by our rules.”

He dropped a kiss to her lips. She opened for him, wrapping her arms around his neck. He couldn’t help but react to her riot gear covered body rubbing enticingly against his suit.

They were total opposites, and yet perfect together.

“You’re lucky I’m easy, and you’re wearing guns.”

She nuzzled her body against his. “You’ve got something hard under this suit too.”

“Elizabeth!”

She tugged his mouth down to hers again, controlling the kiss. She knew he wouldn’t say no to the assignment because whether he liked it or not—Gabe was his family too.

When the door opened, Gabe strolled in. “Elizabeth has just had a kid. Maybe you should give her a break.”

He laughed. “I’m cut off. My girl won’t give me any more tribe. If I say the word baby, I get a vasectomy.”

“Har har. You’re a funny man, Ethan Blackhawk. Now, how about we get back to the discussion, and not my uterus?”

Gabe stared at his only chance for getting out from under this.

“I’ll do it, but there are some conditions.”

He sat, steepling his fingers as he watched them. “And they are?”

“We go in with our team. I want my ME all over those bodies. If there’s a coroner already doing the autopsies, I want them stopped.”

“I can do that.”

“I want Ethan as my backup.”

“I figured as much,” he admitted. “Where you go, he’s generally right behind.”

“It’s the best view,” Ethan offered. When she looked at him, he brushed lint from his sleeve. “Well, it is.”

“I want Callen too.”

He hesitated. “He’s on assignment, isn’t he?” Gabe asked.

Blackhawk spoke up, “He’ll be done in a couple days. We’re a team, and we work as one. If you want her, you get us. It’s not negotiable.”

“Deal,” he stated.

That spoke volumes. If the man wasn’t going to hem and haw over that, he was desperate.

“He must be a good friend if you’re being this agreeable,” Elizabeth stated.

“You could say that. Like I said, we went to school together. When you have a good friend, you have to hold onto them because you don’t get many in life.”

Something wasn’t right. Gabe just lied to her. She could see it in his eyes. There was something here.

Her gut was knotting up.

She studied the man. “I happen to agree with that statement. Are you sure you’re okay?”

He nodded. “Yes, what else do you have for your demands?” Gabe asked, feeling bad about the wall between them. She was his good friend too. In fact, she was like his kid sister, and he felt like an ass for what went down between them. He should have listened to her when Elizabeth insisted that he had a mole.

If he had…

“We want an apartment while we stay there. No hotel this time. If we’re going in with the impression that I’m guest lecturing, then I don’t want to be working out of a hotel. I want privacy where my team can meet.”

“I’ll make it happen.”

“I want your rat out of the hole.”

Gabe didn't speak.

“You heard me. I want you to pull Jason Blaise out of the field, and you can have him back.”

“Why?”

It was simple. “All reports come through me, not him. I won’t have someone weaseling behind our backs. Besides, Madden and Seaton are going to be partners again when this is over.”

Blackhawk lifted a brow.

That was news to him.

The FBI had a hard and fast rule about agents being in relationships.

“He stays, but I’ll email him right now, and you can watch if you want. I won’t have him reporting to me. He’s going to be all yours from this moment out.”

They had to trust him, but it was so damn hard.

“Okay.”

They stood.

“I appreciate it, Lyzee.”

She didn't doubt it. “That’s okay, Gabe. You’d do it for me if I asked.”

He would.

“I’ll owe you one,” he offered, as they grabbed their coffees and got ready to leave.

“He must be one hell of a friend if you’re throwing that one out there for me,” Elizabeth stated.

Gabe watched them leave.

He wished it was that simple.

Chapter Two

FBI West

Monday Night

The flight back on the jet didn't take long at all. In mid-air, they tried to check in with Callen, but he was in the middle of delicate meetings which needed his full attention.

So, instead of breaking the news to him, Elizabeth left a message. It was funny because had she wished he wouldn’t answer, he surely would have.

This was dodging in the purest sense of the word, but she couldn’t help it. Once they were in the field, and Callen found out, he was going to lose his mind. Where Ethan wasn’t happy with Gabe, Callen was equally pissed off.

Only, Ethan Blackhawk was better at playing the political office game. Callen would just come right out and tell the man to pound sand.

Like herself, he was a bit more outspoken.

As they strolled back into the office, Ginny was packing up for the night to head home.

“Bosses! Welcome back! I assume that Mrs. B kicked ass as usual!”

She grinned, handing her the qualification papers for her file. “You know I did, Ginny. Where are the two agents that I asked you to detain for me?”

Their secretary pointed at their doors. “Agent Flowers is in Mr. B’s office, and Agent Seaton is in yours. They’ve only been waiting about five minutes. Both look pretty stirred up to get called into the principal’s office.”

Good. She liked when her team wondered what she was up to. It kept everyone on their toes.

As they approached the door, Ethan stopped her. “You know you can’t tell him anything personal about Johanna,” he warned, knowing his wife. While playing Cupid was one thing, breaking HR rules was a totally different situation.

It was dangerous.

It could get them fired.

Truth be told, they weren’t immune to the rules. In fact, they were held at a much higher standard.

“It’s like you think I fell off the boss truck just yesterday. One day, you’re going to have faith in me,” she teased.

“Oh, I have faith in you. I also have HR threatening to chain you up in the tower if you screw with their policies.”

“Yummy. That’s really kinky. Will you be coming to rescue me or leaving me in the chains for a while?”

He lifted an eyebrow as he lowered his voice. “See? That’s exactly what scares me shitless. No one can predict what’s going to come out of your mouth. You’re a menace to my sanity.”

She lovingly patted his cheek. “We’ll do the talk, send them on their way, and then head home. You and I can drive out there tomorrow morning. It’s not that far, and I don’t feel like doing the paperwork for using the jet.”

He laughed. There was something about his wife, even when he knew she was a wildcard, it still gave him peace. Maybe it was the icy blue eyes and the riotous curly black hair. She was still a sweet angel to him, despite what he knew to be fact. “Yeah, like you even know what that paperwork looks like.”

“It’s all paper-y and white. See? I can describe it accurately.”

“Behave, Elizabeth.”

With that, she winked and headed in. Once inside, she found her agent sitting on her couch.

He looked like shit.

No, that wasn’t quite an accurate description. He needed a haircut, his eyes were filled with so much pain, and his suit jacket was a wrinkled mess, almost like he slept in it all night.

Holy hell!

He was falling apart.

“Wow, Agent Seaton, you’re not looking so good. Did you recently go on a bender?”

He didn't reply.

Okay, this was going to be like a trip to the dentist.

Pulling a file from her cabinet, she dropped it on her desk before sitting down. “Agent, you’re going back out on assignment. You’ve been back in house since Friday, and we need your help.”

He didn't say anything. Instead, he simply shrugged his acceptance. At that point, he didn't care what happened to him. If the bosses were sending him out, maybe he’d get lucky and the jet would go down.

Then he could stop hurting.

“Director Blackhawk and I are going in, and you’re coming along as my backup.”

“Please tell me my new partner isn’t going.”

She stared at him. “I can’t do that. Besides, what’s wrong with Agent Flowers? She passed all testing, and she’s excellent in the field.”

“Great,” he muttered, “everything is wrong with her.”

Elizabeth got up and closed her office door. She suspected this was all about Johanna Madden. If the boy was broken hearted, this wasn’t going to get better without a little intervention. Despite her husband’s warning, she had to take care of her people, and Broderick Seaton needed some TLC.

He needed a mother.

And despite Ethan’s insistence that she couldn’t save them all, Elizabeth knew she had to give it a shot.

“We need to have a heart to heart.”

“Sure.” Only his heart was dead in his chest, but who was he to bring up that little detail?

“Your new partner filed a complaint. In it, she stated that she can’t work with you because you’re cranky, and belligerent. That doesn’t sound like the Broderick I know. You don’t have that smile anymore, Brody, so what’s going on? Spill it.”

He didn't speak.

“Broderick, this isn’t your boss talking anymore. It’s someone who cares about you,” she began. “I care about you and Johanna.”

At the mention of her name, his whole body went tense. Elizabeth had been right. The man in front of her was dying inside. She’d been there once. When Callen had disappeared to go rescue his daughter from social services, Elizabeth believed she was dying too.

Someone, despite Ethan’s warning, had to intervene for the young agent. Once out in the field, he’d be distracted and that could get one, or all of them killed.

“You miss her so damn bad.”

He stared straight ahead, unable to look into Elizabeth’s eyes. If he did, he’d break.

“You love her.”

Still, there was nothing.

“Son, talk to me.”

She could see the weight on his shoulders. If Elizabeth could just get him to open up, he’d be okay. “You can trust me. I’m not always a Fed. I know what it feels like to love and lose it. Let me help you.”

“She broke off our partnership, and I don’t know why. All day, all I do is try to figure out what I did to make her run from me. I need to know why she hates me all of a sudden. I relive every minute, everything we said and shared, and I can’t find what made her hate me.”

Elizabeth was well aware. When Johanna had gone to Ethan, he’d documented everything. In fact, it was right in the file on her desk.

“You were having a sexual relationship with her, weren’t you?”

He didn't deny it. “Yes, but it was more than that, boss. I love her. I would have given up my job to be with her, and that’s saying a lot since this is all I know in life.”

“Things happen.”

He exploded in rage. “I didn't even get to keep her in my life. Yes, I crossed a line! I’m paying for it! She left me, and I don’t know why. If she didn't want to be partners, she should have just transferred. She didn't need to…”

He stopped, finally getting himself under control.

“Break your heart?”

He sat. “I’m sorry, ma’am.”

“Elizabeth. We’re off duty. You can use my name.” In all honesty, she wanted to mother the boy. He was fresh out of the academy and relatively a newbie, but she respected him and Johanna. They worked well in the field and were perfectly matched to be partners. Her goal, as director, was to get them back together again—one way or another.

“I know why she wanted out,” Elizabeth stated, picking up the folder on her desk. “She came to Ethan, and they discussed it. I bet he made notes and logged them in here.”

He stared at the folder, unsure why she was taunting him with it. Wasn’t he screwed up enough? Did he need more psychological torture?

“I’m going to go grab a bottle of water from the break room. You sit right here, and whatever you do, don’t read this file, Broderick. I mean it. You can’t look inside, no matter how curious you are to find out the truth about why she left you. Do you hear me? Do you understand what I’m saying to you?”

He stared at her. Was his boss doing what he thought she was doing?

Christ!

She was!

“Yes, ma’am, I promise I won’t look. I’ll sit here and wait for you to get back in five minutes.”

“When I return, we’re going to talk about the assignment. Am I clear?”

He nodded.

The second she was gone and the door was closed, he had the file in his hand and was scanning the information. As she stated, Director Blackhawk had documented it.

Reading everything as fast as he could, Brody took it all in. Now it was beginning to make sense. She wasn’t running from him per say, but her own demons.

He wanted to be sick.

His poor Johanna was suffering alone.

He never knew.

He scanned everything and placed the file back on the desk. It was only seconds before Elizabeth returned.

“I got you some coffee. You look like shit, and it’s going to be a long drive tonight.”

If the boss lady was going to throw him this bone, he had to take a shot and see what else she was offering him.

“Wait. I need to know. Is that why?” he asked, pointing at the folder.

Elizabeth sighed—
so much for not discussing it.

“I know that if I was that sick when I was younger, I would be scared shitless to let anyone in. I’d be too afraid I’d get sick again, and they’d suffer with me. In fact, I’d probably do something stupid like push everyone away to keep them safe, all the while carrying it on my own.”

Now, he got it.

“I need a woman’s opinion.”

“You lucked out. I just happen to be one,” she stated, “or so the men keep telling me.”

“If she didn't have feelings for me…”

Elizabeth knew where he was taking it. “Then she wouldn’t have bailed on her partnership. I’m willing to bet that she feels exactly what you do. Only, she’s trying to keep you from getting hurt in the long run.”

“I’m dying inside. I need to see her.”

She shook her head when Ethan came to the door. “We’re almost done, handsome. I’m just about to tell our agent about the case.”

“I sent Agent Flowers on her way. She’s going to get packed and head to the site tomorrow morning. I’ve notified the lab team, and they’re going to load up and rendezvous with us tomorrow in town.”

“Give me ten minutes.”

“Remember what I said.”

She smiled. “Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my…”

“Elizabeth,” he warned, knowing that backwoods drawl meant one thing. She was ignoring him. His wife had every intention of disregarding their conversation.

They were going to be in HR before the week was out. 

Surprise. Surprise.

When he was gone, Elizabeth focused on her agent. “You’re going undercover. Right now, we have an agent planted in a sorority. She’s neck deep in a mess. We thought we had a sex ring, selling off women, so vice was handling it. Now, we know the truth. Someone is killing them. So, it’s on my team now.”

“I need to find…”

She cut him off.

“You’re going to be playing the role of frat boy. I want you to be rich, arrogant, and out to get into someone’s pants.”

He wanted to puke at the thought of trying to sex up some agent when his heart wasn’t in it.

“What?” she asked, seeing the look on his face.

“I don’t think I can play that role.” Deep down, he knew that the only woman he wanted to be with was the one he couldn’t have. “I’m too damaged over Johanna. I’ll blow the operation the first time I try and play horny frat boy.”

She wanted to laugh.

“The agent there needs cover. There are women disappearing around her. From what she’s reported, the frat has this sex game going on. They get the helpless drugged woman down into their basement, and we don’t know anything else. She can’t get in, but a horny male could.
Tag
. You get to be the horny male in this little sexcapade.”

“Ma’am, I’m really not…”

Once more, she cut him off.

“Johanna’s the undercover agent.”

His mouth opened, and then closed again.

“You heard me, Broderick.”

“Wait. You want me to go in, seduce her, and make it look like I’m out to get in her pants? I have to be dreaming. There is no way that’s what you just asked me to do.”

Elizabeth sat back. “You’re a quick one, Agent Seaton. She doesn’t know you’re coming. All she’s heard is that she’s going to be approached by another agent. She had a code word, but I’m pretty sure she’ll know who her contact is the second she sees you.”

He couldn’t believe this was happening. His bosses were handing him one hell of a present.