Page 5 of Sticks and Stones (FBI Romance/Thriller #65)

En Route

To The Hospital

Saturday

Morning

A fter sending Alice away with the promise of figuring out what was going on, both Ethan and Gene grabbed their badges and guns to head to the hospital. It was time to get down to business, and more importantly, to figure out how Corbin managed to fall down this dangerous rabbit hole.

This was going to be particularly tricky, and honestly, neither of them was looking forward to facing Corbin.

Seeing him like this…

That was a hard pill to swallow.

Already, their imaginations were going wild, picturing the worst-case scenario—because that’s what cops did. They planned for the worst, and hoped for the best.

Gene knew how difficult it was to face Ethan after what David Neives did to him, but this was far worse. Corbin would be well aware of what the animals did to him, and how did he save him from that knowledge?

He couldn’t.

So now, he had to tap dance delicately and for a slew of reasons. The police likely weren’t going to hand this over easily.

Oh, anything but.

They were going to want to keep this in-house to handle the situation. All Gene could hope was that word hadn’t spread yet.

It was time to make FBI magic happen.

In order to do that, it meant stripping this case away from the local law as soon as they figured out what Corbin had been investigating.

That tended to make cops cranky.

But that was life. They’d have to get over it. Since they were there cleaning up the mess, that told them everything they needed to know about the closure rate of the local cops.

It was dismal, and Corbin’s case wasn’t falling through the cracks. The men who hurt him would pay.

Bet.

On.

It.

As for the case, they suspected that Bull’s was a pitstop for sex trafficking, and all they could hope was that there was some death tossed into the mix.

Not that they’d wish that on anyone, but it would be easier to get the case pulled and into their jurisdiction.

IF they could get Gabe to pull some strings.

That was going to be the wild card in this.

Oh, they could work the case on their own, but to get official control was going to take one hell of a tap dance on their behalf, and their boss’.

Dealing with Gabe was no one’s idea of fun, but for Corbin…

They’d do it.

Over the last few weeks, they were keeping their heads down, and staying off of Gabe’s radar—and for good reason.

After he dropped the subtle hints that he knew they were in a relationship, the last thing they wanted to do was provoke the crazy.

And Gabe was definitely that. The man was out of his goddamn mind.

How did they know?

Well, you had to be batshit insane to want to run the FBI and run roughshod over all of its minions.

Only, they were going to have to head into that lion’s den at some time to beg for help.

Call it a hunch.

This wasn’t going to be an easy case to pull away from the local law.

“What’s the plan?” Ethan asked, after he canceled their flight and the hotel reservations for their upcoming vacation.

For now, they were back on duty, and Puerto Rico could wait.

They could rebook for another time. For now, though, their priorities had changed.

Mainly, Corbin needed them.

They were on Crotch Gobin duty until this was cleaned up.

For them, it appeared that they were going to be trudging into the world of flesh peddling.

Unfortunately.

Gene glanced over, and shared what he was planning to do.

“Well, first we need to get in to see Corbin. If he’s having the medical staff blocking for him, we’ll have to get over that hurdle, first and foremost. Then, one of us is going to have to talk to Greyson about getting Gabe’s help to get this case into our hands.”

Yeah, he figured as much.

And neither of them was going to want to do that. Honestly, Gabe was like dealing with your worst nightmare. He always had a trick up his sleeve, and his agents were almost always the victims.

“I feel so bad for Corbin,” Ethan admitted. “I know I came close with David Neives, but to actually have to live through what Corbin did…”

From where he sat, Gene said NOTHING to his partner regarding that.

Why?

Oh, maybe because that little secret he was hiding from Ethan about his own assault. All he could hope was that it didn’t come out anytime soon.

The guilt was already enough to debilitate him, and Gene was carrying it daily on his soul. It was that dark smudge that he knew would never stop haunting him. If Ethan were to find out, he’d lose him.

The reality of it coming to light would be devastating to both of them—but more so his partner.

“All we can do is be there for Corbin, and make sure we help him. It’s going to be a long road back, and if we have to run interception for him, we will.”

That it definitely was.

Without.

A.

Doubt.

“Even if it means blocking Alice?” Ethan asked.

Honestly, caring about other people and having a family was foreign to Ethan. He was going to have to trust Gene on this one.

And follow his lead.

He nodded.

“Even if it means blocking Alice. It won’t be easy, but if Corbin doesn’t want to face her, we have to give him that, at least.”

Well, then, Ethan knew what he needed to do.

Corbin’s well-being was his utmost concern now.

“After that, we’re likely going to have to deal with Bull’s ,” Gene admitted. “If that was where he was assaulted…”

Oh, he was well aware.

Only, Gene had one MAJOR concern.

“We have to make sure Corbin didn’t blow our cover. If he brought up Mace and Tala, we’re burned.”

Jesus.

Ethan hadn’t thought about that, but Gene was absolutely right.

The other man continued.

“Clearly, his cover story wasn’t believable.

If he said he knew us, or even spoke of us, we’re not going back in there.

There’s no way we’ll get out alive. We barely did last time.

I don’t want to have to watch the man I love being assaulted on a pool table.

I don’t want to think about what happened to Corbin, and I certainly don’t want you to have to relive it. ”

Yeah, well, Ethan didn’t want that either since he was the person who would most likely be hurt.

“I agree. My ass doesn’t want intruders. I like to be able to invite my guests,” he admitted.

Gene glanced over.

“Guests?” he asked, lifting a brow. “Care to elaborate on the plural there?”

Ethan laughed.

“You know what I meant. You. You were the guest in question.”

Oh, he’d better believe it. That was a hard line drawn in the sand for Gene. He wasn’t sharing his lover.

EVER.

As for the rest, Gene thought about it.

“Before we even have to worry about Alice and Bull’s , we need to see if we can get Corbin to open up to us,” he admitted. “We might be on the ‘do not admit’ list too. If he’s hiding, we might have to do this ‘officially’ , and lie to the medical staff—which I’m willing to do.”

Who needed a job anyway?

If that got back to Gabe, his ass was grass.

Since they were going to have to divide and conquer, Ethan went there.

“I’ll handle Corbin, and you handle the Gabe thing. I’d hit up Greyson. Technically, he runs the office, so he’ll have to help us figure this out.”

That worked for Gene.

“And you want to deal with Corbin?”

Ethan nodded.

“Yes. Maybe he’ll open up to me since I was just in the same situation. His is worse, but…maybe. Plus, one of us has a temper when he’s pissed off, and already, I can see your neck is red. Your blood pressure is up. I don’t want you stroking out.”

Oh, he was right.

Gene.

Was.

Pissed.

Whose fault was it too?

Well, his.

He’d jinxed himself by saying God loved him. In fact, he was pretty sure he was trying to make him have a breakdown and hated his guts.

Call it a hunch.

“Good point. I’m accustomed to being screwed over by Gabe. As long as you have the Corbin thing under control, I’ll deal with the boss.”

Ethan reassured him.

“I do. I promise.”

That was good enough for him.

As they parked, both men tucked their badges onto their hips, and got ready for the unknown.

They didn’t know how bad Corbin was, since Alice couldn’t get in to see him, but if it was a multiple rape situation, it wasn’t going to be pretty.

Gene just hoped he could stay calm.

Heading across the lot, they walked into the hospital, and went right to the front desk.

As they did, the woman looked up.

“Yes, can I help you?” she asked.

Gene handled it, and was right to the point. He was going to let the badge do the work on this one. His gut said it would be easier than saying they were ‘family’ .

“I’m Special Agent Gene Cantrell, and this is Special Agent Ethan Blackhawk. Our boss sent us here. There’s a cop who was admitted after an assault. It’s our case, and we need to do an interview.”

Together, they both held their breaths as she checked the database.

“Name?” she asked.

They gave her the information.

“Corbin Price.”

It didn’t take her long to find it.

“Uh, he’s asked that no one see him. He’s not taking guests.”

Ethan leaned on the counter, and Gene thought he was going to try and charm the woman.

Only, that was anything but what he did. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who was getting cranky.

It took a lot for Ethan to get snippy. He tended to be the good cop, most of the time.

“Listen, Sally,” he said, reading her nametag.

“We’re up to our eyeballs with crime in this city, and now we’ve got a cop who was hurt in the line of duty.

I don’t give a shit that he’s asked for lockdown.

With every second, the people that hurt him get further out of our reach.

We’re not here for gossip and funsies. We’re here because the US government is stepping in.

Do you think that we want to interview someone who is a victim of sexual assault? ”

His tone was cold and rough, and it did the job.

She swallowed.