Chapter Seventeen #3
Jace was about to be in some bad shape. Moms were the last people you wanted to piss off after blowing up children on a bus.
It was judgment day.
For him, and for Devon Slater.
* * * The Blackhawks * * *
The Reservation
Same Time
Honestly, the Blackhawk boys didn’t know which was worse—having to tell Lance RunningWolf that his child was dead, or worrying about Elizabeth out there doing who knew what?
Both were shitastic outcomes for today, and both made them hella twitchy.
As husbands and men, there was always the overwhelming need to protect their wife, but as partners who knew their wife well, they also knew they had to let her do her thing. She was, after all, the boss at the FBI, and quite capable of handling shit all on her own.
Loving Elizabeth was loving all of her—the scary and the not-so-scary parts. This was a major test in putting faith in your partner, and believing she would be okay.
They had to hope that Gene, and The Hunters, would keep their word, and bring her home safely.
As they were being driven to the man’s home, both brothers had to come to grips with the bottom line.
Their lives were messy at times.
After all of this was done, there was definitely going to be a clean-up on aisle relationship. You’d have to be deaf, blind, and just plain old ignorant to not see the small fractures in their unit.
Mostly, it was all between Ethan and Elizabeth.
While she wasn’t angry with him, Callen could see that not only was his brother’s faith in his wife shaky, but hers in him was now rattled too.
Relationships had bumps in the road, and all he could hope was this one wouldn’t be like the last one. That one had been really difficult for everyone involved.
Ethan was stubborn, and hopefully, he learned what not to do when there was a hiccup in the relationship.
“Hey,” Callen said. “She’ll be okay,” he offered his brother, seeing the worry lines around his mouth.
Blackhawk looked over. They were safely in the back of the blacked-out ride, with Ivan behind the wheel and Gryphen, and Raphael riding shotgun.
“I know. I just hope Elizabeth and I are okay. That’s my concern now.”
Callen reassured him.
“I wouldn’t stress it too much.”
Yeah, well, that was all that Ethan was doing. He was stressing his choices, his words, and just about everything around him. Now, he was stressing what was about to happen.
The second they told Lance RunningWolf that his daughter was dead, that was opening a shitcan of nightmares for them. As Shaman, and the first half-Native one for their tribe, there were already people who were ‘concerned’ with his ability to do his job.
This would add to it.
They’d brought this here, and the death of their chief of police was squarely sitting on his shoulders.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the other issue was the dead chief of police herself. Word was going to get out as soon as they notified her father.
“We have a million and one problems,” Ethan admitted. “The big one is how long until it gets out that we all lied about the state of Rayna’s body?” Ethan asked.
Callen shrugged.
“I imagine not long. Chris cleaned her up, but you know Lance is going to lose his shit, and then want her body. Then, he’s going to lose his shit all over again. Somehow, after this is our fault, it’ll also be directed at Caspian.”
Yeah, none of this was good.
From behind the wheel, Ivan was to the point.
“While I tend to not get involved in your business,” he began, “but this time, it affects all of us. Mainly, we are all lying, and if it crosses paths with him, we’re all fucked.”
Oh, they were aware.
Without being bought dinner.
Without lube.
And without kiss goodbye.
“What do you propose we do?” Ethan asked. “Because suggestions are ALWAYS welcome. Since this is a collective circle jerk, feel free to get some lotion and join the fun.”
Ivan went there.
“I think we need to get Caspian out of here. If she handles Devon Slater, like we know she will, we’ll be able to reopen the house in DC, and finish construction. Maybe we send him there for the time being.”
Callen agreed. That was a good idea.
“We can tell him it’s to give him a break from being here around where Rayna was.”
Yeah, that sounded like a good plan.
“Agreed,” Ethan said. “We can’t risk losing him, and if he finds out what was done to her, he’s going over the edge, hating us, and then eating his gun.”
Oh, that was spot on, and they knew it.
The big man in the passenger seat shook his head.
“This is all kinds of shitty,” Gryphen said. “I hate that we had to lie to him to save him. Only, what choice did we have?” he asked.
That was the problem.
There were only two options. They were to let him find out and have him die or lie and risk he would find out and take their chances. At this point, they had to mitigate the situation the best they could for the fewest casualties.
Caspian’s life.
They were all accomplices in this now, and that was a giant suck-fest.
“We did the right thing,” Ivan stated. “Cas couldn’t handle it. If we’re lucky, he won’t know about it until the pain wears off, or better yet, he never finds out. Let’s be realistic. Lance is NEVER letting Caspian near her body or grave. He’s going to blame all of us.”
Yeah, well, in this case, he would be right, and that was exactly what everyone was feeling.
Guilty.
Raphael had been quiet, but he finally spoke up.
“Sometimes, you have to lie. I saw her body, and what was done to her. I literally puked in the shrubs. I am traumatized just as a human. Cas can’t see that, or he’ll never get over this.”
It seemed they were all in agreement.
“We did the right thing,” Ivan stated. “Cas might figure it out, but we’ll cross that bridge later. This kind of lie isn’t the bad kind. We all love Caspian, and don’t need him dying on our watch.”
Sadly, he was right.
Ivan was curious.
“With this notify, how do you want to do it?” he asked. “Tell us what you want us to do, other than make sure no one sneaks up and kidnaps Callen.”
The big man gasped.
“Don’t put that shit out there!” he said, horrified. “If this dude gets me, all of you bitches are DEAD. Trust and believe she will kick all of your asses.”
There was no doubt there.
Ethan tried to figure out what was the best way to do this, and honestly, there was no good way.
Other than just biting the bullet and getting it done.
“You three are staying inside the vehicle. This is going to be ugly, and let’s face it. Callen is full-Native, and I’m the Shaman. We’ll get blowback, but three White men? Don’t get out of the vehicle to be a target.”
That seemed like the best option. The last thing they wanted to do was make this more difficult for them or for the reservation chief.
He was a victim in this, too.
“We’ll be right here if you need us. PLEASE stay where we can keep an eye on you, and before you go inside, make sure the man is alone.”
Ethan was well aware of how to stay safe. They’d be extra careful of the situation.
Backup would have their asses in case it went bad, and Blackhawk knew that they could always trust their Marines to cover them.
Parking, the man’s older truck was sitting there in the gravel driveway, so they knew he’d likely be home. If he wasn’t, then he walked over to the council house.
Getting out, they headed toward the door. Behind them, they heard all the doors open, in case this was bad. The Marines were ready to jump out in case Lance tried to take it out on them.
As long as there was no killer lurking, they knew that they could take an old man.
Well, Callen would.
Ethan knew his brother wouldn’t let anyone take a swing at him, threatening his back.
At the man’s door, Ethan knocked, and as soon as he did, the door slightly opened.
And that was bad.
“Oh, shit,” Callen said, pushing his brother behind him as he grabbed his gun.
That did exactly what he’d expected.
The Marines invaded the man’s porch like it was the beaches at Normandy.
“Get back,” Ivan said, putting himself in front of Callen.
The man stared at him like he’d lost his damn mind to do something like that.
He was actually holding his freaking gun, and he was a damn Native. Hunting was in his DNA.
“Now I get why Elizabeth is annoyed by you. I’m a freaking Fed,” he stated.
Ivan didn’t care.
This was their job.
PERIOD.
He pointed, giving the other two Marines a hand signal, and the two men went around the back, clearing the sides by looking in the windows.
That’s when they heard it.
“He’s inside, and he’s dead like his daughter,” Raphael stated. “It’s a mess in there.”
Well, shit.
Yeah, they hadn’t seen that coming. This was not only a problem, but a huge nightmare.
Pushing the door open, Ivan cleared it.
When Ethan and Callen came in, guns in hand, they saw that Raphael hadn’t been exaggerating. Hanging from his ceiling, there was the Native man.
Lance RunningWolf’s body was strung up, and written on his naked, mutilated torso was a message.
‘You’re welcome.’
Ivan sighed.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked. “You’re welcome for what?”
Blackhawk knew.
“He thinks he did us a favor by killing her father, too. He knew we’d likely lie, and it would cause blowback. He has been up in our business deeper than we thought. This is a problem. No one is safe. NO ONE.”
Oh, holy shit balls.
That was not good.
Callen didn’t mince words.
“This is worse for us. Lance hated us the least on the council. In fact, he liked you, me, and Elizabeth. He at least played nicely for the most part. This is still going to make one hell of a mess because now we have to explain two bodies to the remaining council members, who don’t like anyone who works for the FBI. He just fucked us more.”
And Ethan was well aware.
Only, they’d handle that when the time came. For now, they needed to regroup.
“Sanitize the place,” he said. “Document and clean it up. Oh, and Call Chris. We have another coming in. This is the problem with lies. Once you start them, you have no choice but to cover them.”
Yep.
They were fucked.
This was going to haunt the shit out of them.
Bet.
On.
It.
* * * The Blackhawks * * *
Interrogation Time