Chapter Six #5
She stopped him.
“Yeah, this is creepy as fuck, Anthony. I’m not one to handle heads. That’s Chris’ thing. We know this dude is a sicko, so I’ll assume it is semen, because Devon can’t keep it in his pants for the dead.”
That was true.
“Well, at least they weren’t meaty. He couldn’t violate them.”
Oh, and that was a crazy silver lining, but the man wasn’t wrong, now was he?
It was a horrible thing in itself.
“Age?” she asked.
Tony considered it.
“This one is somewhere in her thirties,” he admits. “If my anthropology is right, you have a male and a female. I’ll be able to tell you more when I get them back here and study them further.”
Yeah, she was aware.
“Now, Anthony, I need your eyes for a second.”
He laughed.
“Uh, that might be a bad way to put that,” he joked to try and keep it light.
He could see the stress lines around Elizabeth’s mouth, and he knew her well enough that she was NOT having a good time.
Devon Slater had really upset her.
She stared at him.
“Anthony, do I look like I have time or the inclination to deal with jackassery right now? I’m playing hide-and-seek with a killer, and he’s winning. Don’t make me stake your ass in front of FBI west with a note offering you up for annoying me.”
He swallowed.
Yep.
Stressed.
He went there.
“And yet, we still miss you?” he asked, trying to soothe the angry boss beast so she didn’t have a stroke.
That worked.
She actually laughed, but she was so goddamn tired. She had about all of the jackassery she could take for today, and it was not even nine in the morning.
“MATE will scan the skulls. I need you to get me an ID on them. I don’t know where to head next, and I’m betting their identities will tell me that. He wants me slowed down, so we need to do the opposite, okay?”
He could do that.
“I have the information coming in from MATE’S scan, Boss.”
Good.
She looked at her watch. She needed to bail on this scene and possibly, DC, and quickly.
Deep down, she knew if she stayed here long enough, there was a risk of Devon coming back here. By now, he was watching, and he was well aware where she was.
Between the Russian assassin, the speaker that had shut off, and the media outside this church, he was already enjoying the show.
They’d kept it quiet about who died last night, but the media was tenacious, and it was only a matter of time before someone was bribed at the hospital and information came out.
Then, he’d know that not only was she in town, but she’d survived the assault on her life.
Wherever he was, there was no doubt that he was already planning the next deaths.
Would it be skeletons he dug up, or would it be fresh victims?
Elizabeth wasn’t sure.
But she’d find out when he left them for her.
“I’ve got a few things to handle here, and then, I’m getting up in the air. Please put a rush on it, Tony. I need you and Jaxon all over this.”
He understood.
Chris had told him how dire this was, and you’d have to be an idiot not to feel the tension around Chris, Callen, Ethan, and Gene.
Everyone was stressed.
EVERYONE.
That also included him.
As he was watching her, Tony felt overwhelmed and worried for her.
“Lyzee?”
It wasn’t normal for him to call her that. Oh, he used to a long time ago, but times changed. That he’d gone there made her curious.
With Tony, you never knew what he was going to say or do. That was the best and worst parts of him.
“Yes?”
There was emotion in his eyes.
He wanted to say a million things to her. Mostly, he wanted her to know how much he loved her.
Just.
In.
Case.
“Be safe, Honey. You’re my sister, and I need you to not die. I love you.”
Oh, well, that was the plan.
She wasn’t going down quite yet, and she appreciated him being worried about her.
She was worried too.
“I love you, too, Nut. I’m pretty sure that I’m heading back after I handle a few things here. Stay safe yourself. I don’t want anything to happen to you or Jaxon. Jack and Sam need you both, and I don’t want a mob man up my ass for letting his sister get hurt.”
Now, he was curious, and so were the men around her. Oh, and not about the mob man part.
It was the other part.
‘The few other things’ part.
“Like what?” Dex asked, curiously. “You’re not just packing up and getting out of here? Did something you see here tell you where you needed to head next? Care to share?”
It wasn’t so much about what he’d left her.
No.
Not even close.
This was more about leaving a bad taste in the lunatic’s mouth for fucking around with her.
Deep down, her gut told her that there was only one step to make—in order to put the pressure on the man.
Oh, and it was about to be a lot of pressure.
Trust.
And.
Believe.
Elizabeth knew that she needed to keep Devon Slater stalled, too.
And there was only one way to do that.
She smiled.
“I’m about to fuck around and find out,” she stated in no uncertain terms.
What they had was a powder keg, and now, Elizabeth was about to be the match.
All around her, none of them knew exactly what that meant.
But they did know one thing.
That didn’t sound good.
NOT.
AT.
ALL.