“Callen James, I can’t let you do that, my love. It’s not safe. Stay with Chris and Gene. Stay with Ethan. Please.”
He missed her.
“Are you okay? We heard and…”
She downplayed it for Callen.
He was the big worrier of the three men. The last thing she wanted was for him to put himself in danger.
“Don’t I sound okay?” she asked, even as she had tearstained cheeks. The three Marines kept their hands on her in support as Dex and Max weren’t far away.
“No,” he said. “I know you. You’re not okay. None of this is okay,” he stated. “Our whole family is under attack, and you are the center of our unit. He’s trying to break you. He’s trying to throw you off.”
Oh, well, she was aware.
Only, she’d hold up now that he’d given her a job. By killing one of her Marines, she now had a duty, and that would be what took him down.
This was a line, and he’d crossed it.
Again, she lied.
“I’m good, CJ.”
As he listened to his wife, the truth of the matter was that Callen was struggling with this.
“Elizabeth, please don’t die on me,” he said. “We won’t be okay. We love you. We can’t be us without you. Chris is worried, as is Gene, and Ethan is falling apart. He didn’t mean what he said about not having faith. We’re all rattled by this. Please don’t be upset with him.”
She wasn’t.
Oh, she was aware that they were all under an exorbitant amount of pressure. Honestly, she had been angry, but when Jet died, and they’d come close, she knew holding a grudge was a stupid thing.
Ultimately, she might be next, and that was the last thing she wanted them to remember about her if she did go down was a fight.
So, she reassured him.
“I’m not upset, handsome. I’m good. I’m also very safe. Right now, CJ, I’m in a room with Johnny, Gunny, and Gideon. Plus, Max and Dex are ten feet away, and I’m sure Raphael and Uriel are outside the door.”
The one Marine agreed with her.
“They are,” Gideon admitted.
Well, that helped Callen a little bit. There was no way he was getting past five Marines, a cop, and Max to get to Elizabeth. That would be incredibly difficult.
“Thank God.”
When the door opened, and in came Kate, she waved her in, and had to get this done.
“I need to get some sleep,” she said, “but I need a favor. I just spoke to our Marines. Jet wouldn’t want to be in Arlington. They said he likes nature and wants to be with family. We need to do a one-eighty on his burial plans.”
Callen listened.
He wasn’t sure why she was calling him, but if his wife needed assistance with something, the last thing he wanted was for her to be distracted.
Not while chasing this lunatic.
“Okay? Want me to get him a cemetery plot?” he asked. “I’ll get him the nicest one out there with trees, and it’ll feel like a park. I know he loved a good hike.”
Elizabeth appreciated that.
