Page 11 of Sticks and Stones (FBI Romance/Thriller #65)

FBI Office

Philadelphia, PA

Saturday

Morning

T he only reason that Greyson Croft was working was a situation with one of the agents handling a case, and because he also had paperwork to handle. So, when Gene called, there was no problem with meeting him in-house.

He’d been heading there to catch up, regardless.

Apparently, running this office was a handful, and he was buried up to his eyeballs in red tape.

And reports.

And Issues.

It was non-stop.

Only, he liked being in charge, and the last thing that he wanted was to be another drone for the federal government.

Been there.

Done that.

As a soldier.

When he got the call from Gene that he and Ethan were canceling their trip, honestly, he was befuddled. They had earned that time away, and to cancel it…

It was weird.

It seemed like they just couldn’t leave Philadelphia no matter how hard they tried.

Case in point?

Over Christmas, they’d canceled their days off to help Corbin Price close a homicide case, and then for the next three weeks, they’d kicked ass and taken names as they did nothing but grind.

It had been back-to-back for them, and pretty much for everyone in that office.

Change was coming.

Crime was dropping in the city, and he knew that was because the two men were leading the charge. It offered motivation to the rest of the team.

So much so that everyone’s numbers were up.

The cold, hard truth was that when their two years were over, he was going to miss them.

They were damn good agents, and Greyson was grateful to have them on the team.

Honestly, he wouldn’t be upset if they were there for the rest of his time in the FBI. What this city needed were FBI agents who could get shit done.

And that was them.

They closed cases left and right.

So, them not taking a vacation…it was odd. Since he hadn’t explained what was going on, but instead kept it brief, curiosity was killing the Croft.

Sue him.

At the knock to his door, he knew who it would be because Gene rarely was not on time. When he said he’d be there, he’d be there.

The man was damn reliable.

When Gene called, he said that he needed to talk to him about a problem.

All he could hope for was that he and Ethan were not having relationship issues. Greyson could barely hold his shit together, and two Feds who had broken up…

Not something he wanted to deal with on top of the rest. He wasn’t a therapist.

He was a mess.

Look at his life.

“Come in,” he offered.

When the door opened, Gene was there, and it didn’t take a mind reader to know the man was stirred up.

Uh-oh.

There were lines of tension around his mouth, and the last time he saw those, it was when Ethan was being hunted by Javier Hughes.

Since the man was in jail, with no parole until his hearing, it couldn’t be about that. It looked as if his suspicions were right.

This smelled like a personal quagmire.

Well, shit.

There went the numbers. If Blackhawk and Cantrell broke up, he suspected the whole office was taking a nosedive.

Now, Greyson had to find a solution, and do anything he could to change the trajectory.

“Hey,” he said. “Have a seat. What’s up?” he asked. “I hope you and Ethan are okay. You were supposed to be on your way to the airport.”

Yeah, well, tell him about it.

Only, now, he had other issues far more important than a banana hammock and his libido.

Unfortunately.

Gene sat, and he was right to the point. They didn’t have time to screw around on this one. They were already a day behind, and that meant hauling ass before the five men who hurt Corbin had a chance to slip away.

Bikers moved from city-to-city, and with them, they might be taking some men who were trafficked.

“I need a favor.”

Uh-oh.

When one of the two asked for a favor, it was always questionable or sketchy.

Now, it was a matter of which one.

He was holding his breath that one, or both, weren’t going to be asking for a trip out of there. Honestly, Greyson would fight that tooth-and-nail.

“What?”

Gene went there.

“This needs to be off of the record. I know you will want a report, but I’m going to be very vague when I fill mine out.”

Yep.

Sketchy shit.

Here they went again.

For Greyson, he was a rule follower, but Gene Cantrell and Ethan Blackhawk…

Let’s just say they colored outside the box.

Oh, they were effective as fuck, but they took the less traveled route to the finish line, and most of the time, it was a crash landing when they got there.

ALWAYS.

That basically meant something was going to go awry, and someone was getting shot.

They were trouble magnets, and always seemed to get the cases where shit was going down.

Greyson fully expected a shit ton of paperwork heading his way.

Great.

“What the hell did you and Blackhawk fall into now?” he asked. “I know it’s trouble. It’s always a mess with you two.”

Yeah, Gene was well aware.

Unfortunately.

Because the clock was ticking, Gene was to the point. He was going to need backup on this with Ethan babysitting Corbin at their place.

So, he started at the beginning.

“As we were leaving to head to the airport, Corbin Price’s mother showed up at our place.”

Greyson lifted a brow.

And there it was.

Normally, lightning didn’t strike twice in the same place—unless that lightning was Corbin Price, and some wackadoodle case that needed FBI help.

He couldn’t imagine what it was now.

Seriously.

Why wasn’t he shocked that the cop pulled some nightmare case, and the two Feds were going to jump in and save his ass?

Again.

It seemed as if they did that a lot. The only other person who seemed to fall headlong into the mess was Detective Corbin Price.

While he liked Corbin, and he was a friend, the man was a magnet for serial killers and chaos. He had a knack for getting handed the messiest, sloppiest cases that always went sideways.

An example?

The Syn Murders.

Oh, and the nightmare last Christmas.

When trouble found him, it almost always found Gene and Ethan next. It was a mess on a good day, and a nightmare on a bad day for everyone involved.

The proof?

Javier Hughes.

The Christmas Killer.

And now whatever this was.

“Oh, brother. What does he need you to help with now? It has to be big if you’re postponing your vacation. I know you’re looking forward to the beach.”

He had been.

They’d kept that trip quiet because only so many people knew he and Ethan were lovers. Greyson knew, and their ME knew, but everyone else believed that the FBI shoved them into a condo while they were here, and they shared a place because the FBI was cheap.

It was a plausible cover.

Gabe was sadistic, and he loved a roach coach for his agents.

Both of them taking a joint vacation while working and living together…

It was suspicious.

So, no one knew where they’d been going. They also kept it quiet so if shit went down, Gabe wouldn’t know where to find them.

It was sad that they had to be extra careful, but that was the nature of the FBI beast.

Gene explained.

“Corbin caught a case where men were going missing, and likely trafficked. He was undercover at Bull’s Biker Bar when his cover was blown, and he was assaulted. Unknown suspects raped him, and dumped him in the dumpster to die.”

Greyson’s eyes went huge the second Gene said that because he hadn’t been expecting it.

What?

The?

Hell?

“Holy shit! Is he okay?” he asked, getting sick over that. Corbin was a good guy, and no one deserved to be assaulted like that.

NO.

ONE.

Gene sighed.

He didn’t have an answer to that because he knew what Corbin had faced would be the long road back.

“Somehow, he managed to pull himself out of the dumpster, and he crawled naked through the snow to the mouth of the alley. A bypassing car stopped and called an ambulance. He has a broken arm, some broken ribs, and a dislocated shoulder. Like I said, he was assaulted. In this case, sexually.”

That sickened Greyson, and now, he understood why the men were taking this case.

In fact, if they’d let him, he wanted in too. Corbin was a friend, and that he was assaulted horrified him as a Fed, cop, and man.

This was a surefire way to get Gene and Ethan to cancel their vacation.

This.

Right.

Here.

“So you want me to make sure you guys can work his assault case?” he asked, reading the room.

Oh, well, that would be too easy.

He needed the whole shebang, and that was what was going to be the difficult part. Not only did he want that, but he also wanted the murders tied to it, simply because it would make it a whole hell of a lot easier to start at the beginning where Corbin had been.

It appeared they were going to retrace his steps.

“I also need you to pull jurisdiction on the case he was working that led to him being assaulted. Corbin was chasing traffickers, and he went undercover when three victims were found. They were killed and their remains dumped.”

Oh, boy.

That was asking a lot. The cops were going to be prickly about the assault on Corbin, but sideswiping them and taking the homicides too...

“Gene, do you know the dance it’s going to take to pull a trafficking case from their Vice unit? It would have to go to ours. You’re not Vice.”

He stopped him.

“I was Vice. In fact, that’s where I started my career with the FBI.

I’ve gone undercover for countless cases, and I worked the streets.

On top of that, yes, we work homicides now, but we don’t have official duties.

We’re here to clean up, and right now, Philly has a trafficking problem.

Someone is taking young men and selling them to people. ”

Oh, he wasn’t doubting that he had a valid point. He was doubting the boss man would step in and stop him. Gabe was a wildcard on a good day.

On a bad day, he was a person’s nightmare.

Greyson was trying to figure out a way to make this happen.

Why?

There was no way in hell that this man was backing down after Corbin had been sexually assaulted. He’d do it while saying he was on vacation as he broke the rules.

Which would cause chaos.

And more paperwork.