Page 56 of Sticks and Stones (FBI Romance/Thriller #65)

“I’m going to watch some TV and get lit. If you call and can’t get me, call Nomad. He’s got the plan, and he and Rebel know the deal. Bullet just left here to plan the transport route. He’s coming back later to let me see it.”

That told them they didn’t have much time. If they were going to contain this, they had to move fast.

Again, there was silence as they heard a beer crack open.

“If you hear anything about that cop we fucked to death, or if he didn’t die, let me know. I’ll get out of Dodge if the heat is on. We can’t risk the operation.”

It was a good thing they didn’t plan on going to Bull’s . It appeared his ‘crew’ was afraid and tucked away. That made access to them trickier.

Now, they had four of the people involved.

Renegade

Bullet

Nomad

Rebel

They just needed the next name. For them, if he was also involved with the assault on Corbin and the drugs being used, they’d lock him down, too.

It appeared that they needed Renegade’s phone.

When they heard the asshole hanging up, belching, and moving through the house, Gene was ready to give him exactly what he deserved.

That was a trip to wherever the CIA wanted to put him. Hopefully, he would fight them, and for Renegade, it would end up with him going to Hell.

Ethan signaled that they needed to move. They were going to contain this and make sure that Renegade paid for what he’d done to Corbin and all the other victims.

Dearly.

Slowly, they opened the door and then followed the sounds of the TV being flipped from channel-to-channel. The house was dark, but they could see from the light of the TV where the man was.

He was sitting in his chair, boozing it up like he didn’t have a care in the world—like when he’d destroyed a man’s life.

Well, fuck him.

As they stood there, Gene counted them down. When he put up the third finger, it was time to go.

Walking into the room, they had their guns drawn, and when Renegade saw them, it was too late to react.

Gene pistol-whipped him so hard that his head nearly came off of his body.

“What the fuck!” he muttered.

Pulling him up, Gene threw him to the floor and right through a glass coffee table.

Yeah, he was big mad.

Ethan just stood back, letting him ‘restrain’ the man. Someone was working off the anger he was feeling, and luckily for Gene, Renegade was fighting.

Only he was no match for an angry Gene.

Not.

Even.

Close.

To get him to comply, Gene stepped on his balls and put the nose of his gun in Renegade’s mouth after he rolled him over.

That’s when he finally spoke.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t splatter your goddamn brains all over the floor,” he said, his finger on the trigger as he wanted to end that piece of shit’s existence.

The rage was there as he stared down at the wide-eyed man staring up at him.

“Let’s just do it,” he said.

That was when Ethan had to step in.

“Gene,” Ethan said, softly.

Hearing Ethan’s voice pulled Gene from the rage that was pumping through his body.

They had a job to do.

Instead of shooting him, he pulled Renegade up and threw him back into the recliner that he’d been sitting in so they could ‘talk’.

Blackhawk turned off the TV and hit the lights. As soon as he did, Renegade said one thing.

“Oh, fuck,” he muttered.

Gene stared down at him.

“Hey, Renegade,” Gene said. “Remember me? Your old buddy Mace? Remember Tala?”

Ethan waved.

“Hey, asshole.”

The man growled.

“I knew you were off,” he said. “When you wouldn’t share his half-breed ass, I knew. You are a fucking cop!”

Oof.

That was the wrong thing to say.

The second he uttered ‘half-breed’ that pushed Gene over the edge, and Ethan didn’t even try to stop him.

Honestly, those punches were just an excuse. They were all for Corbin and none of Ethan’s ethnicity, and he knew it.

As he watched, Gene beat the hell out of him, making him bleed.

And Ethan let him.

Why?

They weren’t there in the capacity of FBI agents.

As soon as Gabe let them off the leash, it was anything goes.

And this was…anything.

Besides, it had been a rough day for them, and honestly, Mario Turner, AKA Renegade, had this coming.

When Gene was finished dinging up the man’s face with his fists, he stared into his eyes.

“So, scumbag. That cop you hurt…he lived, and guess what? He’s our friend. You picked the worst possible cop to hurt because now, we’re here to take care of business!”

The man spit out blood.

Oh, and he tried to be defiant.

Someone wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, now was he? Gene was seething mad, and to poke him…

Stupid.

“So the fuck what? He had a nice ass. We had fun with him. Do you know he cried and begged? He was a pussy. When we branded him twice, he passed out, but we wouldn’t let him rest.”

Someone had a death wish.

Gene punched him again and again, and the whole time, Renegade laughed, egging him on.

There was no doubt in Ethan’s mind that he was on something. He told the person on the phone he was going to get lit, but Ethan was pretty sure he already was.

He wasn’t feeling pain.

Gene was a big dude, and he wasn’t pulling those punches.

In fact, he was bloodying up his knuckles with how hard Renegade’s head was.

“Want to see the video?” he asked, spitting out more blood and some teeth. “We have the full video of his assault to jerk off to for years to come.”

Gene was done.

He’d had enough.

Because he wanted the man to feel some pain, he used the heel of his boot and slammed it down so hard into the man’s groin that he screamed in pain. Then, he punched him in the face, knocking him out.

As the asshole was slumping over, Gene shook out his hand.

“Goddamn it!” he muttered.

From where he stood, Ethan was curious.

“Feel better?” Ethan asked.

Gene growled.

“NO.”

Yeah, well, neither did he.

This whole thing made him nothing less than sick to his stomach. What they needed was the last name, and then they could call for pickup.

Only, he was curious.

Renegade said he had a video, and if there was evidence, that might give them the last person’s identity if this sack of shit wouldn’t talk.

It was time to do some phone recon. Going into the library of all of Renegade’s photos and videos, Ethan saw more than he wanted to.

And it turned his stomach.

When he found a long video, he took a chance and hit the play button. Immediately, they heard Corbin screaming in pain, begging them to stop.

Only, they didn’t.

Instead, his pleading was met with sadistically cruel laughter.

Corbin was begging for his life as the five men beat the hell out of him between assaults.

Ethan stopped the recording after watching it for a few seconds.

“I can’t do it,” he admitted. “I can’t watch that. I’ll puke,” he said, and that was saying a lot. They’d seen some shit in their time with the FBI.

Yeah, Gene couldn’t either.

“Just get the name of the person he was on the phone with, or the number. We’ll get the fifth person who is laying low. Then, figure out who else he sent that video to. They’re next on my list.”

Blackhawk got the name off of the contact list for Renegade’s last call.

“He was talking to someone named Truck,” he stated. “Let’s see if that’s one of the assholes the CIA watched.”

That worked for him.

Gene pulled the photos from the envelope that Ethan handed him from his bag.

When he found the name on the back of the picture, Blackhawk turned it around, and officially, they had their five rapists.

Renegade

Bullet

Truck

Rebel

Nomad

What surprised them both was that Cash Masters, the normal money man, was not on the video, or helping this piece of shit.

Ethan searched out who had been sent videos, and he confirmed the names on their makeshift list.

When he checked the man’s emails, he found the most damning evidence of all.

There was a group email with their names and the video.

It was marked ‘for the crew to remember our fun’ .

“Refresh my memory on their legal names,” Gene said, watching the prone man in the recliner. “Because I’m not letting them keep their biker names. I’m going to make the men beneath those stupid-ass names have a reality check really fast.”

Ethan shared.

“Rebel is going to be a douchebag by the name of Simon Aldridge, and Nomad, which he is going to wish he was one, is going to be a man by the name of Nathaniel Hargrove. Then, we have Raymond Archer, who goes by Truck.”

Gene listened intently, as Ethan kept sharing the names with him. He was memorizing them.

Because they’d touched what was his.

Gene’s family.

In his world, that wasn’t acceptable. Family was precious, and Gene would protect it with his badge, and his life.

To.

The.

End.

“Oh, and we know the asshole who left and is coming back is Bullet, or Miles Radcliff. There are the same five who are tied to the email and seen in the video.”

Well, they were all screwed.

“We’re going to have to move fast picking them up,” Gene admitted. “If one of them gets spooked, we have a problem.”

Well, since he brought it up, Ethan had an idea.

“What if I told you I had a way to make this easier on both of us and eliminate any issue popping up with them getting away?”

Well, Gene would give him a kiss for making this easier.

Why?

Because the last thing that Gene wanted to do was play games with this bunch.

His temper was brewing, and honestly, killing them…

He was too tempted to do just that.