Page 57 of Sticks and Stones (FBI Romance/Thriller #65)

Mario Turner’s Home

Saturday

Evening

W ell, he was all ears when it came to a plan, and most importantly, Gene wanted to do this the easiest way possible where Ethan was in the least amount of danger. Call him crazy, but he didn’t want his Native dinged up.

In fact, he’d also like to not get shot or stabbed in the process either.

Yes, they were wearing vests, but he didn’t want to take a risk. Cop killer bullets could penetrate their Kevlar to end their lives.

With these assholes, who knew what the hell they were capable of if surprised?

“Let me call our masked friend for pickup. Then, you can tell me all about it.”

Ethan waited as Gene made the call.

It didn’t take long at all.

Gene said a few words to the man, but they were crystal clear in intent.

“Pickup at our location. One down.”

Gene knew that the man likely followed them because he would have, too, in his position, so he was going to make it easy for him.

“Gotcha,” he said from the other line. “I’ll be right there in a few minutes,” he added.

For Lewis, he was grateful that they’d handled it with minimal issues. From where he sat, they did it quietly under the cover of darkness.

Lewis might make it home before dawn after all. The two Feds weren’t idiots, and Gabe had been right.

“See you.”

When he hung up, he looked at Ethan.

“Let me have your idea, but I’m warning you that if it involves the hookers, the new friends you made, the answer is no. I don’t care that they like a bear.”

That made Ethan laugh.

“Not even close,” he said, grinning. Instead, he shared what he was thinking.

“Okay, so here’s my idea. Let’s work smarter, not harder.

What if we contact them one by one, texting them, to tell them to come here.

We know Miles Radcliff is coming back later.

We can grab them and get all of their phones in the process with little chance they’ll slip past us. ”

Okay, he had to admit it.

That was a good idea.

By luring them there, that way they could delete the video, and if need be, find anyone else who had been sent it from their phones from the safety of this house.

Yeah, this could work out for them.

“We can tell them that the cop didn’t die, and they are screwed. We can add that the plans have changed, and they are heading out but meeting here first. We heard enough that we should be able to pull it off, thanks to his phone call.”

That could work. It would control the situation, and all they had to do was bag and tag when they walked in the door, minimizing the risk to themselves.

Gene grinned.

“God. You’re devious, and you didn’t even bring up hookers.”

Oh, he had his moments.

“I solicited them once tonight. Anymore, and you’ll have a heart attack,” he joked. “As for the rest, I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Gene gave him a fist bump.

“Oh, and I also have their rap sheets pulled up, and I made notes on the back of their photos. You might want to hear them.”

Oh, he did.

“What did you find?”

Ethan shared.

“They all have records, and Bullet, aka Miles, has a drug record a mile long, but something piqued my interest,” he admitted.

Oh, well, if it piqued his interest, that meant it would pique Gene’s too.

That’s when he saw what Ethan had scribbled on the back of his picture.

“Manufacturing and trafficking? Oh, he’s likely going to be the one who is getting handed the drugs and then ballooning them for transport. Once a drug dealer, always a drug dealer,” he stated.

Ethan believed that too.

“He’s coming back on his own, so we can just wait to get him.”

That was a good plan.

When they heard a tap, they turned, finding the masked Marine in the doorway.

“I didn’t want to get a gun pulled on me,” he admitted, coming in. “One of you seems twitchy and shoot-y,” he said, staring at Gene.

It made him laugh.

“You’re not wrong.”

When Lewis saw the man in the chair, it looked like his face hit the floor a few times.

Roughly.

“Did he put up a fight?” he asked.

Both men knew the answer to that.

“YES,” they said together.

The Marine found that amusing, especially when the guy started waking up, and Gene pistol-whipped him again, knocking him out.

“I hope you got what you needed,” Lewis said, pulling out zip ties and handing them to Gene.

Together, they bound his arms and legs.

“Oh, we got plenty,” he admitted. “Don’t worry about that. We have the five people we need to handle this, and we think we know the drug connection. Miles Radcliff has a manufacturing charge. What better person to handle it than him?”

Lewis would take their word for it.

He didn’t solve shit.

No.

He was pointed at a problem and handled it. That was how he did his job.

“Well, good work on the first one. Call me for the second. I’ll pass this one off to the team. We have transport waiting for all of them.”

That worked for Gene. As far as he cared, he hoped the assholes were taking a one-way trip to Hell.

“We need his phone.”

Honestly, Lewis didn’t care if they kept them.

The FBI and CIA told him to have the men transported. Their phones weren’t a priority. They planned on interrogating them to figure out how that nasty-ass drug got back into the States after El Gato’s death.

“That’s fine,” he said, dragging the man through the house.

“Do you need help with that sack of shit?” Gene asked. “Oh, be careful. Don’t hit his head on every hard object on your way out,” he added, sarcastically.

He laughed.

“No. I’ve got it. Get the next people here. No one wants to do this all night long.”

Wasn’t that the truth?

With Ethan at the helm, he sent the text out to two of Renegade’s crew, but only after reading the texts he’d sent to them that day.

Just to be safe.

After he hit send, Gene focused on getting the scene cleaned up so when the men arrived, they wouldn’t be suspicious.

“I texted Rebel and Nomad. I told them to hustle because the heat was on and to pack for a trip. They were moving out tonight after the merchandise was ready.”

Gene laughed.

“Uh, that sounds like you’ve typed those messages before.”

He snorted.

“No, I went into the man’s other texts and used phrases he’s said before. Now, as for those two, Rebel has fewer criminal charges. We might be able to break him,” he admitted.

Gene leaned against the wall, listening to what charges the dude had caught.

“He made a bomb out of a pipe and accidentally blew up his shed. He’s got plenty of speeding tickets and a battery charge on a woman with the same last name. I’ll guess his wife, family member, or ex.”

Gene corrected him.

“The correct terminology is ‘his old lady’ . You know in case we ever do undercover again.”

Ethan grinned.

“I mean, I loved the last time. It was…stimulating. I don’t dislike undercover work with you.”

Oh, Gene was well aware of how stimulating it was, and as for the reason…

A wild Tala was a hot Tala.

“Maybe you can reenact that later,” Gene suggested. “I’ve missed Tala. I planned on molesting him on a beach, but here we are in a smelly, motorcycle-dude’s shithole.”

He wanted that.

Definitely.

“We can make that happen,” he admitted. “Tala misses you and your dick. I still want all of you in me,” he admitted.

Gene’s body reacted.

“God. You’re too much for me to handle in bed,” he offered. “You definitely make me want to go wild. I hope I can be gentle.”

Oh, Ethan was glad.

That’s exactly what he wanted—a wild, out of control, horny Gene.

Was that too much to ask for?

God knew he’d been a good boy this year, and mostly because of this man.

“You don’t say? Well, I’ll have to really up my game,” he offered. “And who asked you to be gentle?”

When he stared into Gene’s eyes, both of them were affected by the conversation. Ethan had a way of turning up the heat with his midnight-blue eyes.

It was getting hot in there.

Damn but work was getting in the way. Gene was just about ready to make a move and kiss his man when they heard the rev of an engine and a motorcycle pulling in.

It was showtime.

Unfortunately.

“Later, I’m most definitely going to have some fun with Tala,” Gene admitted. “You’ve stirred me up, and now I need an outlet for that lust,” he warned, checking out Ethan’s ass as he followed him out of the room.

It was probably a bad idea to tell him he liked it rough. That made Gene’s mouth go bone-dry. Now, it took all he had to focus on work and not play.

Peeking out the window, they found the two men talking, so they tried to listen.

“I grabbed all of my shit, kissed my old lady goodbye, and told her Daddy was getting her something pretty when we deliver this new batch of fuck toys.”

They knew that was Simon, recognizing him from the picture, and now, they also knew that there were still people being held.

Not surprisingly, there would be more victims. This was going to take a while to sort out.

The two men were amused by their little banter, so much so that Nomad gave him a fist bump as they headed for the front door.

Gene and Ethan had to get into position so the men could walk on in and never see the ambush coming. They needed to keep it INSIDE the house, so no one escaped.

Quickly, using the remote, Gene turned on the TV in the other room and tucked himself into a corner to hide.

The whole time, he was watching Ethan’s location to make sure he was safe.

That was his primary mission. His partner tended to get his ass into trouble when left to his own devices, and that wasn’t going down on his watch.

The second the door opened, Nathaniel Hargrove poked his head in to call out to his buddy.

Unfortunately for Mario, he’d left the building.

“Renegade! Yo! We’re here!” Nomad shouted, giving him a heads-up.

When no one answered, they both paused.

Then, they must have heard the TV and figured he was in the back. The two men walked in, closing the door behind them just like Gene had hoped.

Then, it went south.