Darkness Of Truth (An FBI/Romance Thriller~ Book 6) (32 page)

When she began laughing Callen shook his head. “I knew it. This is where the evil look came in. She’s going to stir the entire pot just to watch it boil over all of us.”

“I think you’re forgetting a few things, boys. One, I’m FBI and I don’t give a shit about the council rules. Two, I’m riding up with my Native partners, and three- I’m bearing a native boy child. Have faith in me. This will go over just fine.”

As she climbed up into the second Denali, they glanced over at each other.

“
Clusterfuck?” asked Callen.

“Yep,
a really big one.”

~ Chapter Nine ~

Tori drove towards the sheriff’s station in Red River, not speaking to the man beside her. The entire drive she could feel his eyes on her, and Tori knew once they came to a stop, Julian was going to want to talk.

Pulling in, she put the Denali in park and waited for it.

“Do you despise me now?” he asked, softly. “Hate me so much that we’re unfixable?”

Tori shook her head. “No Julian, I don’t hate you. I’ll never
feel any of that about you. I just can’t be with a man that doesn’t trust me or one that accuses me of using him when I was simply leaning on him when I was broken. Believe it or not, there’s a huge difference. When you love someone you trust them enough to hold you up when you’re not strong. I’m sorry you viewed my weakness and needing you as using you.”

“Tori, I was so wrong. I was so afraid that you were in the process of leaving me, that I let
my past cloud my judgment. Please forgive me for everything I accused you of yesterday.”

She finally looked over at him. “I’ll die loving you, Julian, but it doesn’t mean I’ll stay with you. You screwed up and you need to fix it. This is about work now, and not us. If you want to talk about this later, we can. Now is
n’t the time. I have a job to do, and fortunately I didn't quit. Now I at least have my career.”

He nodded and closed his eyes
, his heart aching desperately to have her love him and want him again. When this assignment was over, he truly believed she’d be gone. Julian had no one to blame but himself.

There was nothing worse than beating a person when they were down. Offering him a chance to find his way back, Tori took the high road.
Leaning over, she gently gave him a kiss on the side of his face, allowing her fingers to run down his cheek.

His eyes opened and they were filled with so much emotion. “I’ll prove I’m worthy of your love again, Tori. I promise that I’ll fix this.
Just give me a chance.”

She dropped on her sunglasses
, exiting the vehicle. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”

Inside the building, they came face to face with Sheila Court, as she guarded the door to the kingdom. Immediately, they were faced with opposition and hostility.

“Oh look, Julian Littlemoon’s in our little building. I honestly never thought I’d see the great Indian tracker grace our presence. I guess this is our lucky day.”

Julian ignored her hostility. If anything, he was accustomed to it from working in the office with her. “We need to see Jimmy, so just buzz him and we can cut out the chit chat.
I’ve had a lifetime of hearing you drone on and on.”

“You don’t get to boss me around. You betraye
d your friends here for the FBI. You’re a traitor and no one here that wants to deal with you. Obviously, Indians have no loyalty.”

The way she said it, it was derogatory and meant to wound. Tori had enough. “You have five seconds to buzz your boss before I lose
my temper and do something you’ll regret.”

Sheila laughed at the smaller woman. “Yeah, okay.”
Now that the other bitch wasn’t around, she could manage the redhead just fine.

“Four.”

The woman didn’t even look worried as she pulled out her nail file and went to work.

“Three.”

Still nothing showed on her face.

“Two.”

Sheila smirked at her and gave her a dirty look.

“One.”

“Now what Ms. FBI?” she taunted, pushing her luck. “Go ahead and teach me a lesson.” Then the secretary went all in and flipped her off.

Julian was about to intervene.

Tori walked towards the desk and with a sweep of her arm moved everything onto the floor, including the phone, lamp and vase of flowers. It shattered and made a mess all over the papers she was working on earlier.

“Are you out of your mind?” Sheila yelled angrily
, jumping up and pointing in horror.

Tori
was about to really rip into the woman for calling Julian ‘Indian’, when Sheriff Duffy ran from his room to see what was happening. “Oh look, I guess I don’t need you to buzz him now. I’ll have to remember that the next time I come in here.”

“Look what she did to my desk,” the woman whined to her boss.

“Then maybe you shouldn’t be such a bitch, and refer to him as Indian like it’s something bad. I know he’s Native and he knows his ethnicity, but seriously? It’s rude to point it out in conversation. It’s like me telling you that sitting at a desk all day has made your ass fat. See? It’s rude as hell to point out the obvious.”

Julian started laughing
at the look on Sheila’s face. He was pretty sure no one ever dared to tell her she was less than beautiful, out of fear of her temper.

Sheila moved towards her
menacingly.

“Let me warn you now. I served two tours in the
Middle East; I was trained and worked with men that were Rangers. I can and will hurt you if you come near me. I’m crazy like that.”

Sheriff Duffy intervened quickly. It was just like the last time the FBI was here, only it was a different woman causing the chaos. “Okay, p
oint taken. Sheila, clean up this mess. FBI in the office, let’s go!”

Julian followed Tori in, and was touched and amused that the woman he loved had defended him. So, this was what it felt like to be Ethan and Callen when Elizabeth lost it. Now he got why they were always smiling about it. It should have emasculated him to be defended by
her, but instead it turned him on big time.

“What can I do for you both today,” Duffy said, crossing his arms across his chest as he stared down the man who used to work for
him.

“We came to tell you that we have positively ID’d the victims on the Rez,” Tori said, taking a seat
as Julian closely took one by her side.

“Well
Sweetheart?” he said, waiting for her to continue.

Julian wasn’t amused. Casually he dropped his arm behind the back of her chair, almost possessively.

Tori could feel his arm against her back, and she understood that the two dogs in the room were about to have a pissing match. The only good thing was Julian tended to be very levelheaded. Then she remembered his meltdown the previous day, and all hope for calm was shot to hell.

“We’re simply giving you a courtesy of notifying you. Since the victims are residents of Red River, we wanted you to know
,” Tori stood, unwilling to entertain the man.

“Sit on down,
Sweetheart. We’re not done talking,” he ordered, pointing.

Tori didn’t like his tone, but she’d suck it up for the sake of the job.
When she crossed her arms across her chest and mimicked his body language he got the point.

“Please have a seat, Agent.”

When she did, he started laughing. “I bet you’re a wildcat in bed,” he added, winking at Julian.

His whole body tensed
, and he was ready to beat the man into a bloody pulp. “You’ll never know,” he muttered, lifting his sunglasses.

Tori dropped her hand on his leg and offered him comfort. Sheriff Duffy was trying to provoke Julian
, and it appeared she was going to be the bait. Under her hand, his body relaxed marginally.

“Was it the missing persons we had on file?” he asked, getting down to business.

“Yes,” she answered. “We’re on our way there to give the families the news. We can’t release the bodies until the investigation is complete, but as soon as we have this wrapped up, they’re free for burial.”

Duffy played it over in his mind. If he joined the case, he could look like the hero in time for the election. This would be awesome free publicity. “I’ll be joining you.”

Julian didn’t think that was a good idea. This particular man near his woman meant his control would be fraying fast. It was probably a good thing that not only could he track, but he could hide a body too, if need be.

“Director Blackhawk assumed you’d want to be attached to the notifies
,” Tori acknowledged, standing.

“Oh
Sweetheart, you misunderstood. I’m doing more than just the visits. I’m going to be your official partner and attaché to this department. I thought my deputy would be enough, but I think I need my hands all over this one.” Duffy let it hang in the air.

She wasn’t bothered by his words. Serving with men in the military, you became numb to the innuendos. “Fine with me, Sheriff
. We’ll meet you outside,” she answered, walking to the door.

Julian didn’t move. He watched the man checking out her body and grinning. When Tori was out in the lobby, he finally stood. “Back off, Jimmy. She’s my woman and if I even see you being inappropriate with her, I will cut you to pieces and hide your body all over the Rez.”

Duffy laughed. “Oh, well I guess you have a problem then, because I don’t see a ring on the little ladies hand, and I owe you and the FBI a little payback. I’m going to make myself a pain in the ass to the bureau and get her in the sack just to piss you off.”

Julian didn’t doubt for a second
that he’d try. “We’ll settle this later then.”

The sheriff smiled. “See you outside, Julian. Keep an eye on that woman of yours. You know how they can stray in a heartbeat.”

He tensed at the man’s words. He wasn’t going to let James Duffy push him over the edge, but he did wish he didn’t know about what happened to him and Tina.

Duffy laughed uproariously as the Native man
sauntered out. Yeah, it was petty, but he’d betrayed him to the FBI and once that happened all bets were off. He was making a point to screw with the man as much as possible today.

His number one missi
on was to break Julian Littlemoon.

Tori waited out by the Denali, leaning against it as Julian stalked across the parking lot. He didn’t look happy, and she was pretty sure why.

“You okay?” she asked, seeing the pain on his face.

He shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”

Tori watched the sheriff coming towards them.

“I’ll ride in the official FBI vehicle,” stated Duffy, grinning at Julian. “Want to sit the back with me, Agent?”

Now she got it. The man was using her as a weapon against Julian. “Actually, you’re driving yourself there. Julian and I are the only two riding in the official vehicle.”

He relaxed marginally beside her.

“Have it your way,” he replied, laughing. He patted Julian on the shoulder as he walked away.

Once inside the Denali, Tori looked over at him. “He’s screwing with you isn’t he?”

“Yep.”

“Want to tell me what happened last time you were all in Red River? Maybe catch me up to speed?” Tori asked, starting the vehicle.

“Jimmy’s brother was the serial killer. He was chopping parts off his victim to rebuild his true love. He was a nutbag and had a mental break with reality. We all thought it was a woman killing the victims.”

“Oh
man,” she said, glancing over.

“
In the end, Callen and Desdemona were taken, and Ethan was back at FBI West. Elizabeth needed to go in and get them. She asked me to be her backup, and I didn’t tell Jimmy. He would have tried to stop her.”

“You did the right thing
,” she said, believing he had.

“Anyway, Elizabeth and I drove out there and found his brother about to make Desdemona cut out Callen’s heart. She killed the m
an. One shot between the eyes. Then Jimmy found out I helped her do it, and he’s been holding a grudge. He promised to make me pay, and this is how he plans on doing it.”

Tori reached over and took his hand.

Julian stared down at her hand and squeezed it. “He’s going to hit on you and try to get you into bed just to make me miserable.” He debated on telling her everything. “He knows about Tina, and what she did to me.”

“Psychological warfare,” she said, nodding. “I guess what this comes down to is
you needing to trust me.”

Julian glanced over. “
I guess it doesn’t matter. I destroyed us with my fears, and now I get to live them all day today while Jimmy fucks with my brain.”

Tori pulled into the driveway
, putting the Denali in park. She couldn’t let him suffer. Leaning over, she pulled his mouth to hers and kissed him slow and deep. He had healed her, and she would be damned if she’d let anger keep her from patching him back up too.