Page 58 of Sticks and Stones (FBI Romance/Thriller #65)

Unfortunately for Gene, his partner was close to where the men were. As if the universe wanted to hate him, both men looked to their left, where Ethan was standing.

Rebel, Simon Aldridge, gasped and went to warn his buddy that there was someone there.

Whether he recognized him from the bar or he was just startled, they wouldn’t know.

That’s when Ethan moved, coming out of the shadows, kicking out both men’s legs, grabbing the one by the shoulders, and using his strength to kick up, knocking the second off of his feet and flat to the ground directly in front of Gene.

Then, he went hard, immobilizing the man closest to him by punching him in the face and adding insult to injury by landing on his balls with his knee.

He howled until Ethan knocked him out too.

Well, holy shit.

That was hot to watch.

The whole time, Gene just stood there, knowing he wasn’t needed.

“Okay, they are handled,” Ethan admitted, standing up. When he did, he saw Gene staring at him.

He wasn’t speaking.

“What?” he asked.

His lover started laughing.

At first, he’d been worried that his partner might get hurt, but then, he was reminded that Ethan could hold his own with the best of them. Better yet, he fought like he was in a barroom brawl, not a Fed.

Yeah, his man was lethal in a dirty fight.

And he’d proved it.

“Both of them?” Gene asked. “You didn’t even save me one. Is this because I didn’t let you beat on Renegade?”

Blackhawk was amused.

“Sorry. I had a flashback to my ancestors, saw two white men, and lost my mind. I felt itchy like I had a case of the smallpox.”

Gene snorted.

Someone was funny.

“Duly noted, hot Native man with an odd sense of humor,” he said, grabbing the one and dragging him into the living room as Ethan handled the other.

They were placed on the couch, and the two Feds waited for them to snap out of it.

“That was hot, by the way,” Gene admitted.

Ethan grinned.

Well, he aimed to please.

Gene was honest.

“I’m going to have a perpetual hard-on if you keep it up,” he added.

Oh, well, Ethan hoped so. It was incredibly erotic knowing that Gene’s erection was for him and only him.

Before he could say anything, one of the men moaned. That meant it was time to see what they could get out of them before transport time.

Reaching into the one dude’s jacket pocket, Gene grabbed Rebel’s phone. Then, he tossed it to Ethan so he could do the digging.

Their fun was about to begin.

Getting ready, Gene crouched down before the man. When the scumbag opened his eyes, it didn’t take long for him to recognize the man.

“Oh, fuck,” he muttered.

Well, well, well…

It looked like word had spread that Mace and Tala were cops.

“Hey, Rebel. How’s it going? Or should I call you Simon? How’s your wife, Maggie? I’m surprised you recognized me out of my leather gear,” he admitted.

The man closed his eyes.

“I’m not saying shit to the cops,” he stated.

Oh, he didn’t have to say shit.

He needed to give them some intel.

Period.

“You’re going to want to open your eyes for this,” he said, just as the other man started coming to beside him. Only, he was groaning.

It was probably because Ethan had knocked some sense into his concrete skull.

Surprisingly, Rebel listened. He opened his eyes, and that’s when he watched Gene manhandle his buddy instead of him.

Being a Fed went out the window.

Maybe Gene should have worried about crossing that line, or if it would eventually make him a monster just like them, but here and now, he was looking for one thing.

Justice.

Without a second thought, Gene broke Nomad’s fingers, his nose, and he also crushed his junk beneath his big boot. Then, he yanked his arm up so high behind his back, he dislocated it.

The man screamed in pain until Ethan hit him with his Glock, knocking him out again.

That was all it took.

Simon stared wide-eyed as if he couldn’t believe two officers of the law were crossing the line.

Yeah, they were.

Well, when you were pushed, sometimes, you shoved back, and they’d really been pushed to that breaking point when these assholes touched Corbin.

The time here in Philly was already wearing them thin, and this was the icing on the shit cupcake.

Gene’s voice was cold and filled with venom as he started questioning the man.

“Know that rape you two participated in with Renegade the other night?” he asked.

The man whimpered.

Oh, there was no doubt he remembered. When Gene was done with him, he was going to wish he was still in the backyard, bomb-building business.

“No,” he said.

Oh, well, Ethan had bad news for the man. He’d left a trail of proof leading right back to the crime.

Via video.

When Gene looked over, Ethan found the poof.

“That’s a lie. It’s on his phone,” Ethan said. “I wonder if his wife Maggie knows he’s dicking men in the backroom of biker bars while she’s at home with his family,” he stated.

The man gasped.

“He’s got kids, too, Gene,” Ethan admitted. “I bet they’re proud of Daddy. Know who almost never got to have a chance to have kids? Corbin—the man in our family that they hurt.”

Gene’s eyes narrowed.

“Oh, well, I have a feeling they will find out the truth about him.”

The man protested.

“You leave my family out of this.”

The second he said it, Gene belted him in the face, making his head snap back so hard that it was surprising that his eyeballs weren’t playing hide-and-seek inside his brain.

Then, Gene grabbed him by the jacket.

“The man you raped had family too,” Gene said. “And, unfortunately for you, he’s our brother. You dumb fucks found the only cop we consider family here in Philly . That sucks for you.”

Simon shook his head, trying to focus on the man.

“What do you want?” the man asked.

Gene was to the point.

“Information, and if you don’t give it to us, you’ve got a problem.”

Someone decided to play hardball. He closed his mouth to signal that he wasn’t talking.

Well, that was fine.

They’d get it out of him.

One way.

Or another.

“Yeah, Ethan, I don’t think he’ll have to worry about anything anymore where he’s going,” he said, catching the man off guard as he dropped his knee onto the man’s forearm, snapping it under the weight.

He screamed.

And then, he was punched in the face.

AGAIN.

“I get that cops are your enemy, and I get that you are scumbags trying to avoid the law, but what puts me into the mother of all rages is that you dropped his battered, abused, and broken body into a dumpster to freeze to death in the cold. He is a human being, and you threw him away like trash. This was more than good guy versus bad guy. This is now psychopath versus my fist.”

He punched him again.

And they both heard the squish of his nose cartilage being decimated.

Reaching into his vest, Gene pulled out his badge. On it, the gold FBI emblem said it all.

“You dumb fuck. We aren’t cops. We’re Feds, and the US government has been watching that bar,” he said, as Ethan held up black and white photos of all of the bikers.

Simon looked scared the second he saw the badge but downright ill when he saw the pictures.

“Yeah, we only ask questions we already know the answer to,” he said, smacking him in the forehead with his badge.

Immediately, he began denying everything as he tried to save his ass.

TOO.

LATE.

“I didn’t want to do it…”

Ethan kicked him in the face, snapping his mouth shut. It rattled his head and likely broke his jaw.

“You can shut the fuck up,” he said, showing him his badge too. “Because of what you did, you’re going somewhere fun.”

The man shook his head.

“I’ll do whatever you want,” he whispered. “Whatever!”

And there it was.

While Gene knew that crossing the line was not something any cop should do, this was a special circumstance. He would never cross that line again.

That’s what he was telling himself.

With his voice cold as ice, he was to the point.

“You can tell that to the CIA. See, they know about the drugs. Snow, Simon? It’s not your friend. You’ve been to prison, but that was small considering the charges you’re getting now.”

Oh, someone looked like he wanted to cry.

Good.

Gene kept going.

“You assholes dumped a cop in a dumpster to die, out in the cold with no clothes. You are kidnapping, packing men full of drugs, and then passing them off to rich perverts to use and discard. You’re never seeing sunlight again, and if for some reason you do, I’ll be waiting for you.

If I ever see you out of the cage, you’re going to turn up like the victims. Nothing but a pile of decay and bones! ”

He began crying, and neither man gave a shit. They’d made Corbin cry, and this was justice.

“I hope you like Guantanamo Bay,” Ethan said, pulling out his phone.

The man started panicking at that name. It was notoriously known for being nothing but concrete cells where people went and never left again.

He was going to the hole.

Gene dialed and told their pickup guy to get there.

“We have two this time,” he said, hanging up his phone.

Simon looked nervous.

“Please. I’ll cooperate.”

Well, they had some time.

“Where are you guys getting the drugs?” Gene asked. “Because you’ve gotten the attention of the US government, and that’s bad news for you and the supplier.”

That they knew about the drugs must have spooked him, clueing him in on how bad this was going to be for them. Instead of helping himself, he said the stupidest thing in the world as he changed directions.

“I want a lawyer.”

They both laughed.

And laughed.

And laughed.

“Oh, Simon, we aren’t those kinds of Feds today.

We’re the kind of Feds who don’t read you your rights before putting you away forever.

We’re the kinds of Feds that pretend we don’t see things like waterboarding at Gitmo.

Those are the kinds of Feds we are today.

Had you fuckers not hurt our friend, we might have actually heard you ask for a lawyer. ”

The man was crying.