Chapter Four #5
Gabe reassured him.
“He’s battered, but he’s good. Uriel protected her as the car rolled, using his body to cover her.
It appears that both men have concussions, and they are going to be seen by my personal doctor.
As soon as the Russian asset was killed, Elizabeth called for extrication, and the Secret Service, along with Jack Warner’s cops, got her out of there. ”
Thank.
Freaking.
God.
Still, this wasn’t good news. Callen was sick over the part where one of them died.
“Oh, my God. Poor Jet,” he whispered.
Gabe was honest.
“Your wife believes that the Russian was called out on them with the sole purpose to slow Elizabeth down. She’s pissed, she’s upset, and she’s barely holding it together.
My suggestion is to cut her a break and not bust her balls.
It’s been a rough night for her. You know how she feels about her Marines, and she nearly lost three of them. ”
Well, so much for not busting her balls. Ethan had done that, and then some.
Yeah, he felt like shit over this.
Ethan moved away from Gene.
“I’m coming.”
Gabe stopped him.
“No. You’re not.”
He didn’t relent.
“You seriously can’t tell me not to come to my wife when she needs me!” Ethan said. “Gabe! Come on! She’s on her own out there, and this is escalating!”
He was honest.
“Ethan, she’s BARELY holding it together. She just watched Jet die. She nearly saw Raphael and Uriel die. She killed a spy. Right now, she needs to get back on track. You coming here isn’t going to help her.”
Gabe knew his best friend, and he knew that Ethan had a temper. That Elizabeth didn’t call them first made him suspect that the tension was already there. That she didn’t want to talk to them…
Something was up.
So, despite his relationship with Ethan, he protected Elizabeth.
At.
All.
Costs.
Ethan went red.
Gene reached him again, and this time, he put his hand on his back to calm him.
“Babe,” he said. “She would have asked us to come if she wanted us there.”
Finally.
Someone was thinking straight.
“That right there,” Gabe said. “Agent Cantrell, you’re the clear-headed one. No one is to come here. For all you know, that is exactly what this nut planned.”
He was right.
Well, about some of that. Gene wasn’t clear-headed. He was panicking just as much.
Gabe continued.
“We are having a meeting, and then she wants to see Jet. She needs to see him.”
Ivan was on his tablet.
“I’m calling up the remaining Marines,” he stated.
“There aren’t that many more at the house.
We’ll lock it down and get them to her. We’re moving them out.
We believed they’d be safe, and if they were behind the gate, they would be.
I won’t risk any more of them. It’s time to bring them home to us. ”
No one argued.
Devon was chipping away at her protection.
“I need to see her,” Ethan stated.
Gabe understood that.
Only, he needed the man to give her some space. He knew Elizabeth, and a husband would be a distraction.
“Tell me that there’s not tension between the two of you,” Gabe said, catching Ethan off guard.
He.
Said.
Nothing.
Yeah, that was exactly what he’d assumed.
“Since you can’t, my initial statement stands. Keep your asses there. She’s heading to you at some point.”
The men didn’t like this.
“And she’s unhurt?” Chris asked.
Gabe nodded.
“Well, she’s emotionally damaged by this, but she’s not physically injured. She took down a Russian killer, so that should tell you all you need to know.”
It did.
Elizabeth was tenacious.
Gabe continued.
“She’s sure that Devon Slater is behind this, and that he needs her slowed down. She’s right behind him and waiting for the next bodies to drop. This was likely to give him time to get out of DC.”
They were aware.
Again, Gabe went there.
“Give her space.”
As he stared at the men on his screen, he saw the look on Ethan’s face.
Oh, boy.
Someone was about to blow.
“Ethan, I’ve known you and that temper long enough to know that you need to slow your roll.
I’ve been on the other side of it, and let me say this.
Cool it down, Cowboy. Your temper is your worst enemy.
For all we know, this could be part of Devon’s plan.
Don’t play into his hand. She has enough on her shoulders right now. ”
He was to the point.
“We had an argument as she was flying to NOLA. I said I didn’t have faith in her ability to handle this, and it didn’t go well,” he admitted.
He was to the point.
“It’s been many years since I’ve seen you crumble,” he stated. “Remember when you came to my office after shooting an agent in Puerto Rico?”
He nodded.
“You didn’t have the balls to stand up and fight. Instead, you ran like a coward.”
Ethan’s cheek twitched.
“Don’t be a fucking coward, Ethan. Don’t give up on your wife.
Life doesn’t give you many second chances.
I know that personally, after Livy was taken and killed.
Don’t have regrets. Even if you don’t have faith, pretend you do for the person you love because their faith in themselves is ALWAYS tied to your faith in them. ”
He was aware.
It had been a low moment.
Apparently, he had many of them.
“Fight and fight hard. She’s out here doing just that. Now, she’s rattled because he got a shot in and took out one of the Marines. What’s his end game?” Gabe asked.
Ethan pointed.
“Us. He’s going to want one of us, so she gives herself over to him in exchange for us.
We are analyzing his handiwork right now, and it’s all personal.
A uterus in the jar, a rosary with a broken-off Christ. He’s giving her a timeline.
It looks like his resurrection in three days.
This all points to Chris being his target, so we’re making sure he’s not alone for anything. ”
Gene knew what they needed to do. He was going to stop thinking like a Fed and begin thinking like a Hunter.
“We can find him, if we break the rules. He’s assuming we will play by the law. He believes her hands are tied by Lady Justice, and that might be our one ace in the hole.”
Gabe listened.
“What are you thinking, Gene?” he asked.
He went there.
“We know he has money, and we know he has a bank account. What if we find him that way?” he asked. “We can ask Gabby to hack in and find a location. He’s likely hoping that we’re so hyper-fixated on the chase that we’re not being sneaky and proactive.”
Gabe shared.
“She’s agreed to let The Hunters help. In fact, she’s waiting for them to clear their current job, to jump in.
I have authorized any means necessary to stop Devon Slater.
They are the endgame. While they are handling Von Donore, get her something.
Be proactive, Gene. When she gets there, he will be ready to set her up to play this game. ”
He was aware.
“I’ll call Gabby,” he said, pulling out his phone. “We’ll find him.”
Gabe was not questioning it.
“Keep it off the record,” he said. “If you can find a way to hunt him, HUNT him. Keep your eyes open for Russian spies too. There’s one left here, and if he’s feeding them intel, be ready to have someone take shots at you.”
That wasn’t happening.
Chris was to the point.
“My spouses will be staying inside. The LAST thing Elizabeth needs is one of us getting taken.”
Gabe saw Chris was working on a body.
“What did you find?”
He was honest.
“Nothing that wasn’t planted. The bodies are pretty cut-and-dry. The nun’s body was decimated, as all of her reproductive organs were removed. She’s also missing her appendix. We received her medical records, and she never had it taken out.”
Gabe got it.
“So, Elizabeth is the nun?” he asked.
Ethan nodded.
“That’s what I’m thinking. He might also be insulting her based on killing to hookers. With this kind of fractured mentality, honestly, the hookers are anyone’s guess.”
Gabe was honest.
“I don’t like this.”
Yeah, preaching to the choir on that.
Ethan continued.
“He’s drawing similarities. He’s coming undone, and he wants us to know that he sees her as both.
She goes to church, and she’s holy, but she’s also with multiple men, and he considers her a whore.
He put the uterus in the jar as a way of telling her that her children are in jeopardy.
While he can’t get them, he’s coming for the next best thing. ”
“Chris,” Callen said. “He’s the ME. He was with Elizabeth when she went into labor and nearly died, resulting in the hysterectomy. Our son is named after him and Tony. That also puts Tony in danger. We have both of them locked down in case he tries for our anthropologist, too.”
Gabe listened as the men walked him through it in an update. It was clear Elizabeth hadn’t yet.
Blackhawk picked up where his brother had left off.
“Elizabeth told us that the city is tied to DC. Corpus Christi, means Christ’s body,” Ethan stated.
“Elizabeth and Gene both went to the Corpus Christi celebration in DC this last June with our daughter. It’s to validate the sacraments in a patriarchal-based religion.
He’s telling her she has no place in it. ”
Gabe wasn’t Catholic.
Hell.
After all he saw, he wasn’t Christian anymore. God had left that building a long time ago.
“Refresh my memory. What are the sacraments?” he asked.
Ethan knew them because he’d been researching before Gabe called.
Only, he didn’t get to say anything.
Gene was off the phone.
“Gabby is in, but she needs to wake up, and then she’ll call us to get started.
As for the sacraments, they are Baptism.
When you’re born, you get yourself dunked.
This washes away sin. Confirmation is the next one.
It perfects our bond with the church through God.
The Eucharist is next, and that’s the communion where we take the body and blood of Christ.”
Gabe was listening.
He’d once been a profiler, and he’d go back to doing that if he could help them.