Chapter One #4
The bottom line was that you didn’t charge family when they needed you. They’d learned that from Elizabeth and Ethan.
Blackhawk checked the time.
Yeah, he knew she was going to be there soon, so Ethan went there. He told them all about the lunatic they were chasing.
The one who got away.
Those were few and far between in their world, but once in a while, that happened.
This was one of those cases.
Because they needed the facts to do their job, he ran down more than the basics. Blackhawk shared things that he probably shouldn’t, and wouldn’t, had these not been friends.
Once she heard this was a fast-moving serial killer, who was trying to goad Elizabeth into playing a game, Maura gasped.
OOF.
She knew it was going to be bad.
As of late, there were snippets on the news about her, and the mess she was dealing with, but this was all kinds of shitastic. Hearing it all proved the situation was far more dire than the media knew, and the Blackhawks were letting on. They were keeping this under wraps.
For now.
Any information getting out was bad. What they did know was that Elizabeth liked to keep her media exposure to what kind of gown she was wearing to some stupid dinner, and Jackson James outings. That was harmless, and the only fodder she’d give the media—unlike this.
Ethan was to the point.
“She’s not going to outthink him. There’s no way.
He’s had decades to set up hidey-holes and routes to the cities and victims. We’re beginning to think that she came onto his radar twenty years ago, when he was being apprenticed.
She’s just trying to keep it above board—for now, but that’s not going to get it done.
We need your help before this breaks her in ways she won’t come back from either. ”
Well, absolutely.
Sign.
Them.
Up.
The bottom line was that Elizabeth had their backs non-stop. They’d do anything she needed.
“At some point, be ready to mobilize. I’ll be the one making the call on this.”
At his statement, Jagger cringed.
Oh, he knew what that meant.
As someone married to a tough, in-charge woman, crossing that line and usurping control was a slippery slope that didn’t end well for the man.
Ever.
“My dude, she’s going to wear your pretty boy face if you leapfrog her authority as Deputy Director, or wife. She’s particularly prickly when it comes to authority on her cases. I know what that’s like.”
Luckily for Jagger, he moved his leg so he didn’t get a ball shot when his wife aimed lower than his abs for that last comment.
Case in point.
On the phone, Ethan laughed sardonically over that comment.
Oh, he was well aware.
Like he’d said.
Sleeping on a couch for a month was the least of his issues at this point. Keeping Elizabeth intact was his main priority. She was the one out there dealing with this while carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders.
Only, his wife needed help, and help she was going to get.
Let her be angry after the fact.
Let her think he was intruding on her job.
Let her make him sleep on the couch, but let her live.
That was the bottom line.
Elizabeth had to live.
PERIOD.
“I know, but a husband has to do what a husband has to do in order to keep his bad-ass wife alive. I’ll be paying for your services privately. I may need the Spiders, too. Just let me deal with the finances, and you guys…”
Maura stopped him.
IMMEDIATELY.
Yeah, that wasn’t happening.
“Absolutely not. We don’t take money from friends when the job means their survival.
That’s not going down here. This is about family,” she stated.
“We take care of our own. Elizabeth has always had our backs when all we did was call her. When you need us, we’ll be there.
Just pick up the phone and let us know.”
A weight lifted off of his shoulders.
As for calling, he would.
May the Great Spirit and his wife have mercy on his soul when he did make that call. She was going to be pissed off.
“Thank you,” he said. “You don’t know how much I appreciate it.”
But he did.
A lot.
“So, the boss is coming here?” Jagger asked, now looking at his watch.
Ethan sighed.
“Yeah, so play dumb. If she finds out that I called you, she’s going to be angsty, but she’s tired, and I’m scared shitless.
We all are. Chris, Callen, Gene, and I made this decision together, so our couch is going to be damn crowded.
We want you to intercede, even if you have to do it on the DL while she’s blissfully unaware.
I’ll filter intel to you so you can hunt behind the scenes if necessary. ”
Oh, shit.
That was serious.
Going that far behind her back was a territory that was going to do more than get him humping a couch. It was going to get him divorced.
That could be seen as betrayal, and they knew it. Elizabeth didn’t like shit like that.
“Well, then, we need to get ready for her arrival. Call us,” Maura stated. “We’ll handle it. I promise.”
Ethan just nodded.
Then, the call went dead.
And Jagger did one thing.
That whistle said it all.
They were going to be busy in the near future.
With Von in hiding, and now the Blackhawk storm, it was about to be tricky up in here.
That was for damn sure.