Slay Bells Ring (An FBI Romance Thriller Book 12) Read Online Free Page B

busy?”
    He pushed the intercom button. “No, Ginny, I’m not. What’s up?”
    “Your brother is on line two, and he sounds worked up. You know how Mr. W gets all hyper when he’s in a rush?”
    “Yes.”
    “Well, he’s borderline hysterical, and he said it was important—even if you were on your call with POTUS.”
    Ethan’s heart skipped.
    Callen knew how important those meetings were. He wouldn’t interrupt them unless it was a dire emergency.
    There were only three things in the world that would fall under that category.
    Their kids.
    Their father.
    Their woman.
    Ethan knew the latter was safely in her office, likely raising hell.
    So that meant…
    Ethan raced for his desk in a panic. Callen was supposed to be on the Rez a few hours away, dealing with some rowdy Natives. He hoped nothing bad had happened to him.
    “Cal, are you okay?” he asked, taking a seat in his chair.
    “No! Jesus! No, I’m not!”
    Immediately, Ethan wanted to freak out, but he tried to stay calm. His heart was thundering in his chest. In his head, he was working out all the possible scenarios.
    “Take a second to breathe and tell me what happened to you.”
    “We don’t have time!”
    His hand shook as he tried to hold the receiver steady. Callen had never sounded this freaked out. The last time he was this worked up, it was when he asked to borrow a jet, and he brought Cat home.
    “I need you to tell me what’s wrong.”
    Callen started at the beginning, telling his brother about the two packages on the front porch of the cabin he was renting. Then he told him there was a note.
    “You didn't touch it, did you?”
    “You know I did! That’s why I’m scared shitless. I wouldn’t be this freaked out if something bad wasn’t happening.”
    Ethan tried to get him to slow down.
    “Tell me like you’re reporting to Gabe, not your brother.”
    It worked. Callen went from panic mode to work mode, proving the FBI was wearing off on him too.
    Callen took a deep breath. “I opened the note, and there was a message.”
    “Read it to me.”
    Callen did just that, and it still appalled him the second time through.
    As his brother uttered the words, Ethan Blackhawk’s bowels went to ice. He was so completely blindsided that he couldn’t form a sentence.
    “What do we do? If we bring Elizabeth here, she’s in the crosshairs of some sicko. If we ignore it, and the twelve hours pass, something may happen to our kids. We can’t win this one, Ethan, and I want to be sick.”
    He wasn’t alone.
    Ethan wanted to throw up.
    Neither scenario was acceptable to the men, but then again, their hands might be tied on this one.
    “You didn't open the boxes, did you?” he asked.
    “Fuck no! I’m not a newbie. Nothing good ever gets delivered with a note like that. For all I know, it’s a bunch of cut up kittens. I’m in the cabin, and I’m man enough to admit that I’m ready to weep. This is really bad. We’re stuck, and either side is a trap.”
    He was well aware.
    This was the problem with being with a badass woman who fought for justice. Sometimes, the lines blurred, and it came for her.
    This wasn’t new.
    They’d had someone call Elizabeth out before, and it didn't end well. It culminated with him being abducted, tortured, and buried alive. Ethan barely survived.
    It wasn’t his fondest memory, and he sure as hell didn't want a repeat of that with Callen on the losing side of the battle.
    They wouldn’t survive. Their family barely stayed intact when he went under.
    “Shit! What do we do, Ethan?”
    His hands were pretty tied at that moment. If he told Elizabeth, he knew what would happen. She’d go charging into it like a bull in a china shop. There was no freaking way she would let Callen sit there with a bull’s-eye on his chest. She couldn’t do it.
    That would risk her.
    If he didn't tell her, and something happened to their innocent kids, or Wyler, she’d be so angry too.
    They couldn’t risk the family because