Page 12 of Sticks and Stones (FBI Romance/Thriller #65)

Well, at least Blackhawk and Cantrell were consistent if nothing else.

Greyson could always count on them for that.

“Come on, Grey. I need this pulled. The cases are tied, and if I’m going to figure out where Corbin went south on this, I need to start at the very beginning. That’s the trafficking case from the city’s Vice squad.”

Again, he wasn’t refuting that.

Not.

At.

All.

Only, he knew what it would take to make that happen, and it was out of his pay grade.

They’d have to do the dance with the Devil himself.

Gabriel Rothschild.

“Gene, you know that I don’t have the clout or authorization to pull a case from the local law. That’s above my position here, and yours. We’re drones, Gene. There’s only one person who can make that happen. You need to decide if you want to tangle with him.”

Oh, and he knew who.

Truth be told, they’d worked so damn hard to avoid the man the last few weeks since he’d hinted that he suspected that Gene and Ethan were more than work partners.

Staying under the radar kept them together. Dropping this on Gabe meant going back on that radar.

What they knew was they had eyes on them. They were under the magnifying glass as everything they did was being watched.

They just didn’t know how.

YET.

“Yeah, I know that Gabe has to do this, so I’ll have to get him to help. Corbin needs justice, and I’ll face down The Dragon Slayer for it.”

Greyson cringed.

“Please don’t call him that. It annoys him that he doesn’t know who started that shit. Why poke the bear, Gene? He gets mean.”

Gene laughed.

Technically, he was the bear that got poked.

By Ethan.

“I need Gabe’s help. I’ll do the dance with him.”

Oof.

Well, how could this go bad?

It looked like they were going to find out—up close and personally with a call to their boss.

On a Saturday.

At home.

Gene was really opening a can of worms when it came to Gabe.

Yeah, Gabe was going to be particularly bitchy when he was bothered at home, and it looked as if he was making that call.

Wasn’t he the lucky one?

Gene saw him hesitating.

“I have to do this, Grey. It’s that or me going rogue. I’m warning you in advance that I’m finding out who hurt Corbin, and I’m closing down that bar if it’s the last thing I do.”

Well, shit.

He gave him one last chance to back out before they were up to their eyeballs in it.

“Are you sure?” he asked, as he picked up the phone and held it in his hand.

Gene just nodded.

“I’m sure. Pull the trigger.”

Well, it looked as if they were making the call.

Because this shitshow was his to control, Greyson dialed the man’s private number. It was the one Gabe gave them in case the shit was hitting the fan, and he wasn’t in the office to take a call.

The bottom line was you didn’t call him at home unless it was dire. If you fucked around, you found out.

As they sat there, it rang three times. Then, it was answered by a grumpy-sounding boss.

“Rothschild. This had better be important.”

Yeah, here went everything.

Greyson put it on speaker so they could both be part of this little funfest.

Caring was sharing.

“Deputy Director, it’s Greyson Croft,” he offered. “We have a situation.”

The man sighed and then went there.

“What the hell did Blackhawk and Cantrell do now?” he asked, not missing a beat. “Did the cowboy burn the city down?” he added.

As he said it, Greyson stared at the man across from him.

See? he mouthed.

Gene just rolled his eyes. There was no surprise Gabe was cranky.

It was his middle name.

Since he was being called out, he was going to make sure Gabe knew he was hearing him.

“Uh, for the record, Cantrell is right here,” Gene said, in the third person. “And now, the cowboy is behaving, and so am I. We were leaving for vacation, and caught something.”

Gabe wasn’t shocked.

While highly effective, Cantrell, Blackhawk, and LaRue were his problem agents. The problem being when they went hard, they went HARD .

And trouble ensued.

“I hope you caught a bug. The flu. Encephalitis. At this point, anything would be better but a problem—on my only day off.”

Well, he wasn’t going to like this.

Because the only ‘BUG’ Gene had was the one currently up his ass over what happened.

“The cop we help all of the time was hurt on an undercover operation. There’s some flesh peddling going on in Philly , and he has three homicide victims, and was a victim himself.”

Gabe paused.

He didn’t like that.

Why?

Because he knew what trouble brewed behind the scenes in Philly .

“Gabe?” Gene asked when the man said nothing. “Did you hear me?”

Oh, he did.

“I’m aware that there are murmurs of some shit going down regarding what you just said. What has the detective gotten himself into?” he asked, needing to know more.

Gene told him.

With Gabe, he was your best friend or your worst nightmare. If you left him in the dark, eventually, when he found out, he was going to boot your ass around the city for shits and giggles.

Since they were screwed already, because he knew about him and Ethan, he opted not to play ‘fuck around and find out’.

“Corbin Price was assaulted undercover while trying to find a sex trafficking ring. The men’s bodies were found, and he was called in to help work it since he handles homicides.”

Gabe listened, and so far, he wasn’t hearing anything that made him believe that Ethan and Gene needed to wade into the local law’s jurisdiction.

“And?” he asked.

Gene went there.

“Unfortunately, during his investigation, he was sexually assaulted, dropped in a dumpster, and left for dead. By some miracle, he lived.”

And now he understood.

“Oh, shit,” Gabe said. “Is he okay?”

Was he?

They didn’t know about his mental well-being.

As for his physical well-being, what they did know was that he was beat to Hell and back.

Gene tried to be optimistic.

“He’ll live, but I want to work the case he was on so I can figure out who assaulted him. Both Ethan and I feel like starting where he began will lead us there.”

Uh…

“To do what, exactly?” Gabe asked, reading between the lines as he made his agents prove they needed this case. It wasn’t that he disagreed, but if he gave away favors like candy, he’d have a line around the block.

That and he knew his agents.

Since he saw all of their psych evaluations, Gabe knew what would trigger them to cross lines.

Gabe knew what he’d do if someone he loved had been assaulted sexually by a killer.

Case in point?

The Butcher.

What he knew was that Blackhawk had daddy issues, but he was able to play in the minds of madmen because he’d been fractured as a child mentally.

His background in psychology was very telling. There was a saying that said ‘people who go into psychology do it to solve their own issues’ .

And he believed that.

Cantrell, on the other hand, had the propensity to want justice, and be willing to do anything to get it. He was a lot like LaRue, in those regards.

They were very much alike, and exactly what the FBI needed. There was no doubt that he’d cross lines to get the job done.

“To bring them to justice for Detective Price,” he admitted. “That’s all,” he added.

Just.

In.

Case.

Oh, Greyson didn’t buy that for a second. He’d seen that look on his face before, and it was the same one when he was fighting Javier Hughes.

Someone wanted blood.

That was in his psych eval too.

“Come on, Gabe. I need those cases. There are three victims. That gives us jurisdiction to take this over. Technically, we can say Corbin asked for our help—because he did.”

Gabe was to the point after listening to his agent plead his case.

“Oh, I can get you the original case that led to this, but I’m not sure I can get you Corbin’s assault case. That’s going to depend on how badly the city wants to keep his assault under wraps, and if the Commissioner’s office will play ball with us.”

Gene would beg.

If that’s what it took, he’d grovel with the best of him. Corbin’s justice was worth more than his ego.

Period.

“Please, Director. I’ll owe you one. In fact, Ethan and I will both owe you one,” he offered, sweetening the pot against his own best interest.

This was a dangerous game with Gabe. He was a douchebag on a good day.

At that, Gabe laughed sadistically as Greyson shook his head.

Yep.

Someone had just sold his soul to the Devil.

Greyson knew that was a bad move. Agents always regretted it in the end.

Why?

Gabe liked owning agents through ‘favors’ , and he wasn’t afraid to use them however he wished.

“Oh, Agent, that amuses me. Have you talked that over with Ethan? Because he hates my guts, and he’d do anything not to owe me a favor.”

Yeah, he was aware, but in this case, that was the risk they had to take.

“We’re aware. Corbin is family to us. We came here and knew no one. His family invited us in, and gave us some stability. When I’ve needed Corbin, he’s shown up. I’m going to return the favor. Ethan and I are both on the same page with that sentiment.”

Gabe got it.

They would play the game.

“Okay, Agent. You’ll owe me one. Start working the trafficking case. Chase it down, and see where it leads. I’ll contact the commissioner and see if I can get Corbin’s assault case yanked. I’ll do the dance, but like I said, it’s going to cost you.”

No shock there.

“What’s the price?” he asked.

Gabriel went there after considering it. He had LaRue in DC, and what he needed was to stabilize the other cities. Philly was problematic. While the Director of the FBI thought disbanding agents all over the place hurt, it didn’t.

They needed people in these cities who worked the tough cases.

“If you agree to the deal, the two of you will be staying in Philadelphia longer than two years. In fact, you’re staying until it’s cleaned up.

At the rate you’re closing cases, and the metrics coming in, that’s about three years, give or take.

The only time you can leave is if I have a case that needs you both out of the area. ”

Well, fuck.

Of all the deals to make, that was exactly the one Gene DIDN’T want.