Chapter Seven
Washington, D.C.
Ten A.M.
The J. Edgar Hoover Building
Because she’d done this dance so many times before, Elizabeth was well aware of how to make a crazy go absolutely insane. Driving people to the end of sanity was kind of her thing.
Yes, she knew that it was risky, but she had to mitigate the outcome so everything from that point on was focused on her.
The last thing she needed was Devon focused on someone else, so that she carried that guilt.
He’d been in control for the last few days, and now, it was about damn time she got back to driving the bus.
There was only one way to do that.
The risky way.
While she might look okay on the outside, she absolutely wasn’t on the inside.
Elizabeth was about to break, and if one more person she cared about lost their life in this, she was going to be beyond vengeful.
She was going to burn something to the ground.
What she’d said to security in the vehicle had been accurate. She was half of the way to Crazy-town, and one more thing to carry, and she’d McLose her mind.
Trust.
So, she needed to regain control.
When dealing with someone not playing with a full deck, you had to make sure you had the narrative by the balls.
The last thing she needed was a cuckoo in control. They had three fresh victims, two sets of remains, and a laundry list of puzzles that had been left for her.
Like, where were all the appendixes?
Were they to screw with her?
Or slow her down?
She didn’t have one, but then again, a LOT of people didn’t either.
Taking back the narrative was on the agenda, and that was exactly what she was going to do. Devon might be leading this, but she wasn’t going to make it easy for him.
Oh.
Hell.
No.
When she asked security to get her back to the office, bones in bags in the back of their ride, they didn’t suspect what she had planned for today.
That was probably for the best, too.
When she went into Kate’s office, and had a closed-door meeting, they still didn’t question her.
Maybe they should have, knowing that she liked to poke a crazy.
That was her normal MO.
Being off the leash and on this side of the country without Ivan to question EVERYTHING, or her husbands up her ass, had given her a lot of freedom.
Now, hopefully, that didn’t bite them all in the ass. This was about to be some sketchy behavior, and she was damn aware of it, too.
Her fingers were crossed.
It was when they were walking out through the FBI building, and Elizabeth was leading the way that they began questioning everything.
There was just a little too much bounce in her step, and that made the Marines wary.
Something.
Was.
Up.
They’d bet on it.
To find out, since he was in charge of this mess here while Ivan was in Damascus, Raphael fell into step beside her.
“What are you doing?” he asked. “This feels like a clusterfuck is about to happen, and while I’m in charge of it. I don’t like that, Boo.”
She had news for him.
In this case, it was best to be ignorant than to be in on the plan. Ivan was going to shit his britches and raise so much hell they would feel it into next year.
“I do love a clusterfuck,” she said, giving them nothing.
And that gave them everything.
The Marines had all served, and they knew when something sketchy was about to bite them in the asses.
Like now.
Oh, boy.
“We're screwed,” Uriel stated. “I have a headache, and I think it’s about to get bigger. Why do I think that, Elizabeth?” he asked.
Because he was right.
Only, she knew it was the only way to get this handled. What she needed was a way to draw him out, so she wasn’t relying solely on clues he’d left behind.
That was risky, and she wasn’t willing to take a risk that she was off of her game and missed something.
When in doubt, light that fuse.
In the main entry of the FBI, standing on the giant blue and gold emblem on the floor, she stopped and focused on them.
“I need a favor.”
Oh, yeah.
This was going to be bad.
REAL bad.
Elizabeth didn’t ask favors from Marines. She asked for help doing sketchy shit.
“What?” Raphael asked, almost afraid to hear what she was going to say.
She went there.
“I need you to stay in here and let me go out there with Kate to talk to the reporters. I’m doing a press conference.”
All five men gasped.
And with good reason.
Had she also hit her head?
“Are you out of your mind?” Raphael asked, not mincing words. “That’s crazy talk.”
She held out both of her hands until he suspiciously put his in hers.
“I’m going to hold your hands and tell you something that shouldn’t come as a surprise to any of you. Guys, I’m absolutely out of my goddamn mind.”
Oh, Jesus.
“NOPE,” Raphael sated. “You’re not doing this. Hell to the big, ol’ NO.”
Uriel was with him on this.
“You are not going out there alone. Jet died by bullet,” he began, and she stared at him.
“I know that, Cas. Trust me. No one knows that better than me. I carry the stain of his death on my soul like I carry the stain of all the people who died on my watch. Only, that was the Russian assassin. Devon can’t kill me.
He needs me to play, or there’s no game.
He didn’t train with his father for all of those years to be able to beat me for nothing.
I’m safe. I’m the ONLY one who is at this point. ”
All five men stared at her.
The whole time, Kate said nothing. Oh, she’d tried to talk her out of this, but Elizabeth made a compelling argument. This would put the pressure on Devon, and rattle his cage.
That’s when people made mistakes.
Now, she had to hope and pray that her people were as good as Elizabeth promised.
“This is a horrible plan. Ivan is going to murder all five of us if we let you do this. I know I’ve said that before, but this would be the straw that broke the Toady’s back!”
She laughed, and she sounded tired at the same time.
Something had to give.
Until The Hunters could get free and clear of their job, and get to her, she had to hold up.
This was buying time.
For her.
For them.
“He’s across the country. I think you can fend off his angry looks from here. Are you saying that two Archangels and three Marines are afraid of Ivan?”
Raphael went there.
“One, he’s MRR, and not just some pissy Marine.
He’s sadistic and can ride ass like a cheap pair of panties.
Two, he’s OUR BOSS. That puts us in a bad place when he fires us.
Then, you have to save us, and he gets even BITCHIER.
Case in point, how he gets when you keep hiring Demeter back after he fires his ass. ”
“I mean, technically, I’m all of your bosses since we pay him, and I put out gratuitously to the men who hired him,” she said.
Yeah, no.
This wasn’t a favor they wanted to help with and for a bunch of reasons.
Winn lowered his voice.
“Elizabeth.”
She touched his cheek. It was the touch of a mother. It cupped his scruffy face and offered calm when his heart was racing in his chest.
Now he knew how Ivan felt twenty-four seven. It was shocking the dude wasn’t dead from a heart attack.
But the day was young.
For all of them.
“I need you to think back to the last time I was wrong when chasing someone.”
It wasn’t easy.
It didn’t happen often.
“This is what I do. You have your thing, and I have mine. He’s getting cocky.
He knows that he has a head start, and I’m playing chase.
If I miss ONE single clue, he’s got me. That’s a lot of pressure.
By doing this, I’m going to rattle him, and he might make a huge mistake by popping out of his hole.
If he pops out, I can go right at him. I’m putting a lot on The Hunters.
What if they don’t get here in time? Who do I pick to watch die? You? Cas? Who?”
Raphael said nothing.
At first.
“Mom.”
She hugged him. When he put his chin on top of her head, he knew he was going to be an idiot and let her do it. Because she was likely right.
There had to be trust.
They couldn’t do her dirty like Ethan did when he said he’d lost faith.
She put her faith in them nonstop, and now, he needed to return the favor. Oh, Ivan was going to skin his Archangel ass and wear him as a Halloween costume.
NO.
DOUBT.
“Please,” she asked. “I’ve been doing this a long time. I know how to do this better than anyone. I’m at the top of my game, and he’s not ready for me. He thinks I’ll play by the rules. I won’t. I’ve got him, but I have to locate him.”
When he sighed, she knew he was going to give up.
“Okay, but you let me put Gideon and Gunny on the roof with guns. I want them overlooking you in case he pops out of the crowd or he’s hired someone to hurt you.”
She backed up.
That was a deal she’d make.
“Absolutely. Go, get into position,” she said. “There are guns in my office. Use them.”
That was all they had to hear.
The two men jogged off, going to get where they were high enough up that they could spot anyone in the distance with a scope. The sun would give them away.
“And you’re going to let me put Johnny in the crowd.”
She stopped him.
“Nope. Because he will act out on him, and I need to be able to focus. Me, Kate, and the crowd.”
He rubbed his temples.
Jesus.
H.
Christ.
Women could make a man insane, and he didn’t even like women. Yet, this one had them all by the balls.
“Fine,” he said. “What is your plan? Can I at least know that?” he asked.
She told him, and as soon as she did, his eyes went huge. That’s when he went there.
“It’s official. You’re insane.”
That made her laugh.
How could it not?
It wasn’t like he was wrong.
“I mean, turnabout is fair play. This is day two for me, and I know he’s going to be watching.
This is how I start bringing him down. I have to systematically box him in, and this will do just that.
He can’t play if he can’t maneuver. This will give Tony and Jaxon time to figure out who the skeletons are so I can be ready for who is next. ”
Raphael said one thing.
“It could also make him go crazy and stop playing, and instead just start slaughtering people for shits and giggles.”
And that was why all of the people he’d try to take out were safely tucked away.