Chapter Twenty-Two #2
She knew there was only one choice. This killer was playing a game, and he wanted her to find those graves and open them.
It looked like he was getting his wish.
This was a weird case, and a shit day two, that was for damn sure.
Yet, here she was.
“Let’s meet Chris at the cemetery. Find out where Callen is, and when he’s due back.”
Ethan could do that.
“And the two brothers?” Gene asked, jerking his head back toward the building. “Do you want to press charges?”
She shook her head.
“No, let the brother deal with the whole ring thing. He didn’t hurt me. He just ran. If I had a dollar for every person who ran from me…”
Yeah, they knew the rest.
They’d be rich.
The big question was this. They were rich, so why the hell were they still playing these games?
Oh, yeah.
Because, clearly, they were idiots.
* * * The Blackhawk Family * * *
Damascus
Same Time
The Baron’s Mansion
Because he was an honorable Marine, more times than not, Lewis knew what he needed to do. After yesterday, and what he’d done with Axelle, he knew he needed to own it.
That began with talking to Duke.
Oh, and he wasn’t looking forward to it.
Not.
At.
All.
In fact, in all the distasteful things that he’d done in his life, this ranked right up there with most of them. He’d slept with a married woman, and this was going to get him kicked in the balls.
Call it a hunch.
So, when he rolled up to the Baron’s Mansion, there were Marines at the gate. He’d already tried the FBI building, but neither Elizabeth nor Duke were around.
So, it was time to catch them at home.
As he rolled his window down, a Marine stuck his head in, and he recognized him.
“Hey,” he said, grateful that the Marines had seen him at The Fort plenty of times. “Is Elizabeth or Duke here?” he asked. “I need to speak to them.”
Benning lifted a brow.
“For?”
He sighed.
“Personal things. It’s about the Director of the FBI. Elizabeth hired me to do something, and I need to report in. You can call her if you want.”
Benning patted his arm.
“No need. We’re just nosey bitches,” he joked, as the gate opened, and Demeter hopped into the passenger side of the man’s vehicle.
“Uh, can I help you?” he asked.
“I need a ride up to the house, and you need an escort. You spooks are paranoid.”
Yes, yes, they were.
He was on the cusp of losing a friend.
“Fine,” he said, pulling through. As he drove, he was curious. “Is Elizabeth here?”
Demeter shook his head.
“She’s on a case since yesterday. She’s about forty minutes away if you need her.”
Oh, well, he was probably going to need a doctor more than the deputy director.
When Duke punched him in the face.
“I don’t. I’ll check in later with her. I need to see Axelle’s husband.”
Demeter went there.
“What did you do?” he asked.
Lewis lifted a brow.
“What do you mean?” he asked, not giving away anything. But it was suspicious that the man asked that.
Demeter grinned.
“A little Archangel birdie told our Archangels that you were at Axelle and Duke’s place, and you didn’t leave until taking the red eye here.”
He played dumb.
Why?
He had no idea.
Why wasn’t he shocked that the Archangels didn’t bail yesterday, and instead watched the house and how he never left.
Great.
If theses jackwagons knew, there was a chance that Duke and Elizabeth did too.
“It was classified as to why I was there. Elizabeth told me to sit on Axelle,” he said, as he parked the car.
Demeter just laughed.
“Uh-huh.”
When he got out of the car, he could hear kids laughing and giggling, and that’s when he saw Duke not far away in the lush grass playing with his two kids. One was still not walking on her own, and the other was running after a ball.
Man.
This sucked.
Heading toward him, he whistled. When Duke looked over, the tension showed on his face, and the smile disappeared. He said something to the one little girl, and waved to Demeter to head that way.
The big man trotted over, and took over watching the two little girls.
Meanwhile, Duke approached, but his body language said it all. He was absolutely going to throw fists.
Goddamn it.
“Yes?” he asked.
How did Lewis do this?
“We need to talk.”
Duke said nothing, but he walked far away from the girls and Demeter that they could have privacy. There were Marines patrolling all over the place.
“I came to tell you something,” he said.
Duke stopped him.
“I already know.”
Lewis lifted a brow.
“Uh, you do?”
He nodded.
“Just give me the papers, and I’ll take them. I know she’s filed for divorce. I did the same.”
Oh, boy.
He wasn’t there to serve him. He got paid millions of dollars to kill people. He wasn’t a glorified delivery guy. Then again, he’d been banging this man’s wife, so…
His moral ground and any dignity went out the window.
“That’s not why I’m here. Last night, Duke, I went to check on Axelle. Elizabeth sent me.”
He said nothing.
His face was blank, and the icy blue eyes that were twins to his half-sister watched him. The whole time, Lewis felt like a douchebag, and he knew why.
He’d put himself into this situation.
“I checked on her, and I slept with your wife.”
That hung there.
Duke blinked, but he didn’t punch Lewis in the face. Instead, he sighed.
“How long has this been going on?” he asked, trying to stay calm, but he was annoyed, pissed, and wanted to do some damage.
Lewis was honest.
“Just last night.”
Duke began walking away, and headed toward the house. Lewis followed, not sure if he was going for a gun…he’d get one if the roles were reversed.
Maybe.
Inside, he picked up a packet off of the console in the ornate foyer. Lewis looked around. The trim was gold, the floors were marble, and this was the most UN-BLACKHAWK thing he’d ever seen in his life.
Elizabeth had to hate it here.
“Here,” he said, handing him the packet.
Lewis took it.
“I don’t understand.”
Duke was to the point.
“After I spoke to Axelle yesterday, I contacted the attorney for myself. He drew up divorce papers. Since the second I called him, I was no longer tied to her, I don’t care about your fling. That’s between you, her, and your conscience.”
Lewis stood there.
Yeah, this was NOT what he’d expected.
“Okay.”
“But, since she trusts you, and you’re here, give her these papers.
Tell her that if she signs them, and submits them in DC, it’s done and over.
She can have everything she wants, but the girls.
They are mine. She also can’t have my last name.
Other than that, she can burn our home, dance around it, or sell it. I won’t be back.”
Lewis stood there.
Well, shit.
This was wild. Two people had just given up on each other? That easily? He knew if he was Duke, he’d be fighting angry, and would have gone to war.
Then, it hit him.
It hadn’t just been over for Axelle the last year, but for Duke too.
Well, shit.
“Just like that?”
He was to the point.
“Know why I hate you, Lewis?” he asked.
The man lifted a brow.
“I hate you because I know what you two had, and I don’t believe for a fucking second that there was never unfinished business between you when you left.
This proved it. As far as I’m concerned, Axelle made her choice.
We have nothing to say to each other from here on out.
In those papers, she relinquishes all parental rights with my daughters.
She’s not to see them, call them, or reach out to me or them. She doesn’t want them or me. Clearly.”
Lewis was honest.
“She does love them.”
He stopped him.
“Like she loved me? She moved on fast, Lewis. Here’s my piece of advice for you. Don’t saddle yourself with a director of the FBI. Don’t marry her, and don’t ever think that you’re her whole world.”
Lewis got the hurt.
He really did.
He’d just found out that Axelle slept with his arch-nemesis and now, he was lashing out. Only, he also knew that Axelle, and himself, weren’t the marrying type. The cage made them twitchy. Axelle had tried to forget that.
He hadn’t.
“I’ve done it twice, and it has been a disaster.”
Lewis pointed at his face.
“Want to hit me? I’ll let you swing at me and I won’t stop you.”
He stared into his eyes.
“No.”
Lewis was curious.
“Why not?” he asked. “I would have kicked your ass if it was reversed.”
Duke began laughing.
And laughing.
And laughing.
Well, that was for a couple of reasons, and the first one was that he wasn’t angry with the man. Axelle made her choice, and he of all people knew how she could take a person on that ride.
The other reason was more for his own self-satisfaction.
That’s when he lowered his voice, and stared into the man’s eyes.
“One, I don’t care enough about a woman who would abandon her children because she changed her mind about being a mother, and I say that as the child of a single parent.
Oh, and two, you’re going to have to face down my sister, and out of the two of us, she’s going to make your life a living hell for not only sleeping with my wife—her sister-in-law, but betraying that friendship.
She’s going to make you bleed in ways you’ve never seen coming, Lewis. Reaper is about to meet his match.”
Well, fuck.
He had a very valid point.
“So, good luck with that, Lewis. Because while you may be a spider, you’re about to walk into the web of the real one, and she’s going to make you cry.”
With that, he tapped his fingers against his forehead, and walked away, leaving to go back outside with his girls on his day off.
And Lewis watched him leave.
Yeah, and he knew one thing.
Duke had been right.
He was fucked.
* * * The Blackhawk Family * * *
Morgue
Pack up Time
Tuesday
Mid-Day
As Chrissy was packing up her gear, getting ready to head out, Callen headed in, and he was carrying a box of evidence. Not only did he have the things from twenty years ago, but he also had samples from stored kits.
Whistling, she got Ben’s attention. He was helping Chris get their gear ready, as he went to go oversee the exhumations.
He headed their way.
“Here you go,” Callen said. “Just what you wanted for your Tuesday morning. Old jizz.”
She laughed.
“Callen Whitefox, you sweet talker,” she joked.
It made him laugh.
How could it not?
As Ben reached them, she was to the point.
“I’m staying here. You’re on cemetery duty. I’ve got trace to work on,” she stated.
The man didn’t look happy, but then again, he’d been bitchy since yesterday when she showed up.
Someone was butthurt.
Oh, well.
Life went on when you were working on Elizabeth’s team, and he needed to get a thick skin.
Fast.
“I can handle the trace…”
She shut that shit down.
“I’m going to handle the trace. You get to micromanage the scene at the cemetery. We have four bodies coming in. That’s your priority.”
He opened his mouth, and she went there.
“Did I stutter?” she asked.
The man closed his mouth, gave her a dirty look, and headed back toward the equipment.
Callen kept his voice down.
“Oh, he’s not happy.”
She shrugged.
“I don’t really care,” she admitted. “I came here to clean up the Wild Wild West, not to make friends. He’ll get over it. If you want this done right, and fast, I’m your girl.”
He kissed Chrissy on the top of the head.
“Thanks, Sunshine. I’m heading to the cemetery. Good luck finding something for Elizabeth. She needs it.”
Oh, Chrissy would work hard, and fast.
“Say it with pizza,” she said. “You know what I like.”
That he did.
Giving her a fist bump, he headed out to find Chris, so they could go over together.
As he left, Chrissy pulled on gloves, placed the evidence bags on her station, and cracked her knuckles.
If the boss needed evidence, she was getting evidence to find this nut.
Now, hopefully, it would help.
It was time to earn her position here.
As QUEEN of the lab.