Page 34 of Sticks and Stones (FBI Romance/Thriller #65)

The Men’s Room

Privacy Time

Saturday Afternoon

W hen it came to being in the know, there was really only one agent that Gene Cantrell trusted to go to, off of the record. She was Gabe’s golden child, and if she didn’t know what was going on, he’d be surprised.

So, he was going straight to the horse’s mouth on this one.

Elizabeth LaRue.

It was a damn good thing they’d worked a few cases together, before he teamed up with Ethan and while he’d been on the Vice squad. Because he had, he knew the kind of agent she was.

A good one.

So, he reached out to her. In his phone, he had her under a fake name, in case the FBI got spicy. Gene was more than willing to cover his tracks.

When he called her, there was no answer, and that surprised him. Normally, she picked up.

So, he left a message.

“LaRue, it’s Cantrell. I have a problem and need some answers. Give me a call back ASAP. I think we have a situation that isn’t going to end well for any of us.”

When he hung up, he stared into the mirror, and into his own eyes. All he could hope for was this wasn’t happening in Philly .

Drugs and trafficking were bad enough, but mix them together, and it was a shitstorm. It was a nightmare for whoever got tagged with it.

And at that moment, he and Ethan were at the center of this, thanks to Corbin.

Again.

When his phone rang, he knew it was her. Elizabeth used a blocked number when she called.

“Hey,” he said answering. “Thanks for calling me back,” he stated. “How’s tricks?”

She laughed.

Where to start?

“Well, I just got off another back-to-back case, and Gabe is likely sending me out again. Oh, and my father is in surgery for his gallbladder. So as you can imagine, I’m spread thin.

I hope the kind of help you need isn’t my physical help, Cantrell, because I’m not only burning the candle at both ends, but I literally tossed that bitch into the flames of Hell. ”

He understood that.

Now, he suspected he was going to be playing games in Hell as soon as they dug into this mess.

Call it a hunch.

“No, LaRue, I don’t need you here physically. I need some intel. You know, the kind the deputy director might have told his favorite person, in confidence.”

She laughed.

“Uh, you’ve heard something that’s not true. Gabe runs me through the wringer on a daily basis.”

Oh, he knew that was true, but everyone knew she was his favorite agent, or she was a mind reader, because she knew way too much.

“You don’t have to deny or confirm, Elizabeth. Your secrets are safe with me. I won’t even tell my partner shit. I promise. As for your personal issues, I’m sorry about your dad. Tell him to get well soon.”

She thanked him.

“Thanks, Gene. What do you need to know? If I can help you, I will.”

He used this call wisely, picking the brain of a woman who was likely one of the best agents he’d ever worked with personally.

Ethan was good, but LaRue made him look like a slacker. She was the FBI’s super soldier, of sorts. Already, and she was young.

In fifteen years, she’d be giving Ethan a run for his money for Director.

There was no doubt in his mind.

“My partner and I have a trafficking case.”

She waited.

“I thought it was going to be the standard abduction, into a sex ring, blah, blah, blah, but it’s been brought to my attention that there’s a new drug in play. Snow.”

Oh, fuck.

The second she heard that, the whole conversation changed from spreading info to securing the situation. Snow, AKA Addiction, was a top-secret thing, and few people knew about it.

“Hold on, Gene,” she said, needing to go somewhere quieter. “We need to do this in private.”

He did just that.

Yeah, something was up.

When she came back on the phone, it was silent around her.

“Please don’t tell me you meant Addiction. Also known as Snow.”

Uh-oh.

She sounded worried.

“Well, I only know it as Snow. Is it the same thing? If so, yeah, that’s the shit.”

Now, she knew they had a problem.

The military had handled the asshole who started making that shit in Colombia. There was no freaking reason it should be stateside.

That it was…

That meant some got through to the US. Like with the one case that she’d worked in the US, Snow was nobody’s friend.

“It’s dangerous,” she stated. “I can’t tell you too much, but I just spent some time in Colombia undercover.”

What a coincidence.

South America was popping up all over again.

Why didn’t he believe this was insignificant?

Hell!

This was their undercover case.

“And?” he asked.

She read him in, as much as she could vet him. This was a touchy situation, as in the CIA using FBI agents to work outside of the country.

“The shit is bad. It turns you into a fucking zombie, and if you get any on you, or breathe it in, expect to be nothing more than a sex machine for hours.”

Oh, boy.

This would be the same shit. That’s what the cops had mentioned.

Now, he needed to know.

“How bad are we talking?”

She laughed.

Oh, and it wasn’t a ha-ha funny laugh either. It was one of a very tired, overworked Fed in an alphabet agency who saw too much.

Elizabeth helped with what she could.

“Off the record?” she asked. “With my name NEVER being brought up?”

Of course!

Like he said, he’d never betray a fellow Fed.

They were friends.

“LaRue, I won’t burn you. We’ve worked Vice together when we were both starting out. I got you.”

She hoped so.

Elizabeth took a chance, but only because she knew how bad this shit was, and if it was showing up here, Gabe needed to be aware.

“I was deep undercover in Colombia, tracking the creator, and I got some blown into my face. Let’s just say that I’m glad my significant other was there with me. He said I fucked for about five hours straight, and he had to restrain me at one point because I couldn’t stop myself.”

Jesus.

“Oh, holy shit. It might be here, LaRue. The cops we caught this from mentioned that it turns you into a horny zombie.”

Yeah, that would be the same shit then.

She didn’t believe in coincidences.

Elizabeth kept going.

“It could be, Gene. I can tell you that the victim doesn’t know what they’re doing, and all they want is sex.

I had no clue I was dosed until I got warm, and my boyfriend, at the time, had to endure it.

From what we learned, the creator of it used it side-by-side with unwilling victims. He liked children. ”

Ewww.

Well, just as he was wondering how this could get worse, here it was.

WORSE.

“Jesus, LaRue. Why didn’t the FBI send out an office wide memo to get us all on the same page?”

Who knew why the FBI did what the FBI did?

She was just a drone.

“The director in charge was the one who ate his gun,” she said, not telling him it was because he’d tried to get her killed in Colombia.

“We stopped it from getting into the country. Here’s where it gets tricky, Gene.

This is all classified. It’s need to know, and you did NOT hear it from me. Don’t spread it around.”

He was curious.

“I told you I won’t burn you, but how did you get picked for this shitfest? I don’t want in on that lottery if the director is sending me to Colombia.”

Yeah, she understood that.

“The last director sent me undercover there to get rid of me.”

Gene was horrified.

He’d heard things about their old boss, but this…

It was disgusting.

“I was supposed to fail, but I didn’t. We shut it down, or we were supposed to have shut it down.

Hopefully, what you’re experiencing is just what made it into the country.

If it gets really bad there, call Gabe. This is some serious shit, and for the love of God, don’t get that nastiness on you, unless you’re around someone who doesn’t mind a lot of sex with you. ”

Well, he was pretty sure Greyson would just shoot him or put him down. Ethan would definitely be okay, but if he got dosed, what if he hurt his man?

Now, he had even more issues to worry about.

Great.

He clued her in.

“The cops who were dealing with it are city vice cops. They said that someone in NY had an issue, and that word on the street is that it’s port cities.”

Yeah, that was the MO.

“The dude I came across in Colombia was a POS. El Gato was his street name. We didn’t know much more about him.

I can only give you so much, not because it’s all classified, because I trust you to tell you, but because there isn’t much to know.

I went, I took out the assholes starting to sell it, and Marines handled the rest. Think… KABOOM .”

He got it.

It was a CIA/FBI joint mission to another country, and she couldn’t talk about it.

“My ass is grass if you say anything,” she said.

Oh, well, he wouldn’t say a word.

“LaRue, you have always had my back, and I’ll have yours. While I have you on the phone, what do we have on the director, that douchebag?”

She laughed.

“Oh, well, he’s dirty. We’re working on tying him up in knots, so we end up getting him taken down. It’s taking time because he’s sabotaged the FBI by cutting positions and spreading us thin. He literally sends me out back-to-back to get me to fail.”

That was foul.

“I’m sorry, LaRue,” he said, infinitely grateful that they were in Philly .

While she appreciated his sympathy, Elizabeth knew that it was her cross to bear.

“Just watch your asses,” she warned. “Until we can get him handled, and believe me, we’re all trying, he’s a danger to all of us. You’re lucky to be out of DC. It’s safer if you’re not here. He’s destroying careers left and right here. Gabe is the ONLY person holding him back.”

Jesus.

Yep.

He was definitely grateful that they took the three years there.

That’s when it hit him.

“I just talked to Gabe earlier. I needed a case pulled from the local PD. In order to get it, I had to deal with The Dragon Slayer.”

She snorted.

“Whoever coined that is an asshole. He thinks it was me,” she stated. “It wasn’t. I call him a dick to his face. He can breathe all the fire he wants. He’s not the president or king, and even then, I wouldn’t listen to him.”

He snorted.