“I’m taking security, and we’re going because the way Ethan’s mother was allowed to have a grave was the Shaman did his thing, and made it happen. I’m taking the Shaman with me.”
“Yay!” Ethan stated, sarcastically. “I love arguing with the Chief over something that I already know he’s absolutely not going to let happen. Then, having to tell my wife it’s not happening, as she grabs a shovel and digs the grave all by herself.”
Well, that sounded like her.
Yeah, Callen suspected that was what was going to happen too, but they had to try, and honestly, they were going stir crazy in the office. It would be good to get out and touch grass.
Literally.
“I’ll come with you,” Gene offered.
Ethan shut that down.
“You’re on babysitting duty.”
As soon as he said it, they all looked over at Chris.
“Uh, I’m right here. Maybe insult me behind my back,” he suggested.
Ethan was to the point.
“All the clues that Elizabeth got at theCorpus Christiscene made her think you’re the target. That means you stay with one of us, and some security—just in case. Sorry, my love. Plus, if we have to make a break for it into the Rez woods, Callen and I are the best equipped. We grew up there, and Marines like playing hide-and-seek.”
He didn’t take it personally.
Honestly, the idea of getting taken, tortured, and used to lure Elizabeth in didn’t sit well with him. That was a chance he wasNOTwilling to take.
He knew his wife, and she would absolutely slip away to give herself over to Slater to save him. There was no way he’d be able to live with the knowledge that she sacrificed herself for him to live.
PASS.
Chris was getting too old for this shit.
“I am aware that I’m the weakest link and the potential outcome. Why do you think I’m sleeping in here with Gene ten feet away?” he asked. “He has a gun.”
Gene was still not thrilled.
He didn’t exactly want his love muffin playing tag with a killer in Rez woods either. One shot to the back, and Ethan was going down.
It would be more like crawling through the woods.
That made him irrational.
“Do you really have to do this now? It’s not like Jet is going anywhere,” he said, and then paused. “That was horrible. I didn’t mean it to sound like that,” he stated.
All three men got it.
This was exasperating as fuck for them, and they’d be lying if they didn’t admit they thought the same thing.
They were all just…tired.
“No offense taken,” Callen said. “We thought it too, but we also thought it would help Elizabeth feel better if, when she arrived, it was handled. She loves her Marines, and her heart has to be hurting.”
Oh, there was no doubt there.
“We’ll take coverage,” he said. “The Navigator is downstairs, and we’ll use it.”
That helped.
