Chapter Twelve #3
Yeah, they had very little time.
Would Chris be pissed?
Probably not.
Did he want to have the conversation at all?
NOPE.
Pulling Jaxon up, he pressed her to his chest, as his hips did all of the work. With less-than-gentle fingers, he got her off.
When she came, he let her pull him over the edge with her, and they both took that tumble.
That was when they both fell to the couch.
As the room shifted, and spun with a bright array of colors, Tony smiled smugly.
Sue him.
It was Jaxon’s giggle that got him to look over.
“Mr. Magnus, as always, bravo,” she said, as he held her and nuzzled her cheek.
Oh, well, when you had an amazing partner that let you be yourself, one only wanted to get standing ovations during the main act.
“Well, my pretty wife, you get me all hot and bothered. So, I’m not sure if you’re to blame, or if I’m just lucky. Maybe both,” he admitted.
She gave him a kiss.
“I love you, Anthony.”
He smiled at her.
“Well, Jaxy, I love you too. Thank you for being my partner in crime,” he said, pointing at them naked on the couch.
She snickered.
Then, she got up and held out her hand.
“Chrissy was out there. She’ll rat our asses out to Chris,” she stated, holding out her hand for him.
Tony took it, and the two of them pulled on their things. Then, he fixed her hair, and she straightened him up too.
Unlocking the door, they sat down on the couch, and each used at tablet to check on the work that was being done on the skulls.
That’s when the door opened, and Chrissy peeked her head in.
“Oh, thank God. If I came in here and found what I assumed I was going to find, I was taking the bridge.”
Tony played dumb.
That was how he got away with a lot of shit. Most people thought of him as a tomfoolery kind of a guy.
Oh, and he was.
He just knew how to fake it until he made it.
“Uh, we’re sitting on a couch, Chrissy. What did you think we’d be doing in Chris’ office? I hope you don’t mean…”
He gasped in fake horror.
It took everything Jaxon had not to burst out laughing at his bullshit.
They’d done exactly what she was thinking.
In record time, apparently.
Chrissy rolled her eyes.
“Your equipment is beeping, and it’s driving me batshit insane. So, handle MATE or I’m unplugging her!”
Tony’s eyes went huge.
“Don’t touch her!” he said, jumping up and running out of there after Chrissy.
With Jaxon behind him, he reached the equipment, and saw why it was beeping.
It was locked into a parameter that it shouldn’t be detecting.
Yeah, he saw something as MATE was building the facial profile, and it was very familiar.
Too familiar.
“What’s wrong?” Jaxon asked, seeing the look on her husband’s face.
He was staring at the male skull, with the markers on it, as MATE gave it dimension.
Instead of answering his wife, he talked directly to the system.
“MATE, I need you to hurry up,” he stated. “I need that scan done ASAP. Continue with parameters. Thank you for detecting them.”
The system chimed and did as he asked.
And Tony knew what he needed to do.
His gut was rarely wrong, and he knew bones. So, he got online, and sent for the dentals for the female, and pulled up the male’s in the computer.
He had a sick feeling.
And in a few hours, he’d know if he was right. If he was, he might just throw up.
Because Devon Slater was one sick fuck.
* * * The Blackhawks * * *
The Reservation
Evening
Cleanup Time
Oh, she’d sung like a pretty Native bird toward the end. This woman caved pretty fast while spilling everything she knew about Elizabeth Blackhawk, where she’d go, what she’d do, and intimate details that she knew about the family.
It was beyond easy.
All he had to do was promise that he would set her free so she could go back to her handsome man. That one little promise had freed her tongue and got her damn motivated.
Would he keep that promise?
Yeah, no.
Absolutely not.
But what Rayna hoped for gave him the leverage to make sure she kept talking.
At some point, she realized he wasn’t going to ever let her go, and then she begged for death.
Again, no.
There was no way he would let her live. His father taught him better than that.
You always cleaned up loose ends.
ALWAYS.
When he took her eyes, she was still awake and alive, and that had to be so damn painful.
What his father also taught him long ago was that if you took away people’s senses, it made them panic. By stealing her eyes, she couldn’t see where he was, or what he was going to do.
They were first, and as he added them to his jar of fun from his bag, he admired them sinking to the bottom.
The pretty brown orbs would come into play later because he wasn’t finished with Elizabeth.
Not.
Even.
Close.
Now, he had a way to break one more of her bodyguards and take the woman to her knees, too. There was no way she wouldn’t blame herself and feel like eating her own gun.
If she did, she did.
That wasn’t his problem.
It would just mean he’d won regardless.
The bottom line was his life was pretty much over in the world. He’d never have a normal life, but at least he’d taken out someone his father had wanted to see decimated.
He was a good son.
No.
He was the best son. He couldn’t wait to go to his father’s grave, sit there, and tell him all about it. All he’d ever wanted was to make the man proud of him.
He wasn’t easy to please.
But this…
Oh, this would make him weep with so much joy.
As he set the scene, he made sure to force the woman to leave one last message in a voicemail on her phone.
That would be the icing on his cupcake.
It would also be what broke Elizabeth.
Trust and believe.
Oh, her playing this game against him was futile. He’d had years to perfect his evil, and she would never be able to stoop to that level of depravity.
Not.
A.
Chance.
All he wanted was to beat her, end her, and then slip away. See, he had a whole other life waiting for him in South America. He’d funneled his money there, and as soon as she was dead, and he escaped, he’d get his face changed and start the drive South.
Border Patrol wouldn’t catch him, and the countries between here and his new home weren’t going to help Elizabeth. The Blackhawk reach would come to an end with her destruction.
As the son of a genius, and quite possibly the most prolific killer ever, he made his plans, and they were impeccable.
Once in his new home, he’d make himself acquainted with the pretty faces there. On the outside, he’d be gay, but behind closed doors, he’d continue hurting women.
Because they deserved it.
His father was right. Women had a place, and it was NOT in a game of smarts with a man.
As Rayna finished leaving the message, he left it recording so Elizabeth would hear the rest.
That’s when he mutilated her, enjoying her screams of pain as he cut her open and destroyed her. Devon had to give her credit. She was strong.
Probably the strongest woman he’d ever destroyed. All he could hope was that Elizabeth would last as long as she did if he was fortunate enough to get her in his hands.
When she took her final breath, she placed the nun’s eyes on the nightstand, beside the woman’s badge. They looked over the ruined woman.
Would she understand the game?
Would Elizabeth figure this out?
It wasn’t like he wasn’t fair. He’d left plenty of clues, giving Elizabeth the opportunity to beat him. Was it his fault she couldn’t figure them out?
No.
That was all on her.
And from here on out, he wasn’t pulling any punches as they got to the next step. Oh, putting a bounty on his head slowed him down, and pissed him off, but he was going back to his plan.
First, he’d break her.
Then…he’d destroy her.
Because he could.
The truth of the matter was that this monster wouldn’t be stopped by a law-abiding Fed. Elizabeth Blackhawk had already lost.
The game was his.
Because evil always won.