Page 87 of Sticks and Stones (FBI Romance/Thriller #65)

“Here’s my train of thought. They were advertising on Temple’s campus for the bar. We know that Graham Sinclair intended to go there. We need to make sure we’re not missing anything. If we skip one step, we’re going to miss something. My gut says we need to head there.”

Gabe got it.

Only…

“The men in detention said they didn’t take men. That they picked them up. Are you sure you want to poke that hive?” he asked. “You already did undercover there.”

Gene was honest.

That rodeo wasn’t happening again.

“Corbin used our cover and blew it. We can’t go back in undercover. This is more in their faces with guns out. We’re going to scare them stupid. We might have one more for transport.”

Gabe didn’t like his agents in trouble.

“Just be careful. If you need someone picked up, call me, and I’ll make sure they’re ‘detained’ .”

They knew he’d keep his word.

“We will be, but we can’t skip the lead.

Someone put up that flyer, and we know for the record that Cash Masters was pimping out some underage stripper from Syn there.

We can’t skip a step to be safe. Cash Masters might know something.

He’s slimy, and worked at Syn for Javier Hughes.

There’s no doubt he might have his fingers in this little funfest too. ”

Well, then, they had to do what they had to do.

“Again, please be careful. The last thing I need is this on the news getting attention. We’re trying to keep it on the DL that Snow is here because it’s here. That little baggie you found was definitely that nasty shit,” he admitted, knowing his one agent had been dosed.

That he wasn’t bringing it up told him that the intel coming in that they were a couple was likely right. Now, he’d just wait for them to fuck up, and he’d drop the hammer on them.

Gene and Ethan were well aware that the shit was nasty.

They’d both taken a ride to the wild side with that shit, and they didn’t want to do that again—or have a citizen get dosed.

Ethan knew what he needed to do.

“I got dosed. I took some to the face. Gene got me back to the hotel, and then to our place. Greyson made sure to stay at our condo to make sure I was okay,” he said.

Damn.

Gabe didn’t expect him to own it.

Oh, Blackhawk was a tricky adversary.

Gabe went there.

“Well, I’m sure Greyson will put that in the private report to me.”

Oh, he would because it was true—to an extent. He’d stayed at their place when Gene got them back there in the middle of the night.

Checkmate.

Already, Ethan was banging out a text to Greyson as they talked to their boss.

He knew how to play this game.

When he hit send, he waited, and it didn’t take long for Greyson to reply.

‘I got you. Don’t worry. If he asks, I’ll admit you were dosed, and I stayed here. If this is Sasha playing spy, and I let her into our circle, I’ll take care of the cover story. ’

Well, that was handled.

Gene kept the director busy.

“Don’t worry. We were planning on getting Greyson, and going in with a team. I’m not crazy,” Gene admitted.

There was laughter.

“Agent, do you know how many times I’m told not to worry, and it ends up being a clusterfuck? Yeah, I’m going to worry. Check-in, please.”

They would.

“I mean, in our defense, this city is a shitshow. What the FBI needs is to just take over the local police division to work the clusterfuck cases full-time. They haven’t a freaking clue.”

Gabe considered what he’d just said, and honestly, that might be the first GOOD idea that Cantrell had. He’d have to mull this over, and see if he could make that happen.

“Again, gentlemen, keep me updated. I want to make sure my agents aren’t doing anything that might be misconstrued by the Director of the FBI and draw his focus. I can only hold back that asshole for so long, so keep your noses clean.”

That was Gabe giving them a heads-up.

Without.

A.

Doubt.

“Make sure you see the commissioner, after you visit Julian Mercer, and for Christ’s sake, be nice.”

Well, that was subjective.

They believed they were damn nice. No one ended up in cuffs or jail. That was Gene being magnanimous on any given day.

When the call went dead, Ethan laughed.

“Well, he told us,” he admitted.

That he did.

“When do you want to hit the bar?” Gene asked, not liking the idea of going in there. Granted, they cleaned up the place by taking in those five, but still…

It wasn’t his favorite thing to do.

Blackhawk stared at the clock on his dashboard.

“We should handle this interview, and then stop at the commissioner’s office. Then, we’ll call Greyson, and see if he’s up for a little door booting.”

That worked for Gene.

“Maybe if we get lucky, we’ll find something there that can get that shithole shut down.”

Yeah, well, Ethan wouldn’t hold his breath on that one. They could shut down a million bars, and more would pop up.

Crime didn’t stop.

And in Philly , it snowballed.

As they reached Julian Mercer’s gate, Gene pressed the buzzer, and they heard a man’s voice.

It gave Gene terrible déjà vu.

Yeah, they’d been here before, and with Javier Hughes. It was the same rich guy’s tone that put him on edge, and always would.

“Yes?” came the voice.

Gene saw the camera, and he held up his badge.

“Agents Cantrell and Blackhawk to see Julian Mercer. We’re with the FBI.”

There was a pause, and just when they expected to be told to kick rocks, there was a beep, and the gate began sliding open.

“I’ll meet you at the door, Agents.”

And with that, they had access.

Only, Gene wanted to be directly to the point with his partner, and he wasn’t willing to negotiate this. As they drove up the drive, he laid down the law.

“Ethan Jackson Blackhawk, I swear to God if we end up with another man with a Native fetish, I’m going to have to be institutionalized. Don’t smile, don’t you dare bring that grin out, or I’m going to put you over my knee.”

It made him laugh.

Blackhawk leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“Don’t worry. I’m never smiling at another man again except for you. Lesson learned. They are out of luck,” he admitted.

Well, thank God for that.

“I can’t go back to the Javier Rodeo but with another wackadoo. I sincerely hope this guy is sane. I’m already tired, and we haven’t been here all that long.

He understood.

“I’m not saying shit, but I can’t help if the men like my face,” he joked.

Gene just rolled his eyes.

Sadly, his partner was right.

As they rode up to the house, they parked and got ready to handle this. The parking area was plowed, and spacious. Together, they took in the place.

It.

Was.

Big.

It made Javier Hughes look like he was poor, and that was saying a lot.

It was crystal clear that the Mercer family was rolling in money.

“How did they get rich?” Gene asked, since Gabe had called and interrupted his partner updating him.

Blackhawk shared what he knew.

“His parents created Mercer Enterprises, and they own a few military contractor companies. The most recent is one called The BlackStone Group . They are in the business of war, and they tend to send in soldiers to take care of business.”

He was confused.

“Uh, the US government sends in soldiers. Why do we need more soldiers?”

Ethan explained.

“Private ones. Paid ones.”

He lifted a brow.

Well, that sounded ominous, and screamed only one thing.

“Mercenaries?”

He nodded.

Then, Ethan turned his laptop around, and showed his partner. On the screen, there was a news article.

‘Mercer Group denies any illegal maneuvers in the Middle East. It claims The BlackStone Group was only following military orders.’

“Oh, why don’t I like that?” he asked. “Why does that make me twitchy knowing that there are mercenaries playing US soldier in the Middle East?”

Ethan knew.

“Maybe because they are rich, sleezy, and don’t like to play by the rules.

They think they’re entitled. It all started to spiral, from my research, when the brother died.

James Mercer was the normal one who the family had banked on running the company after graduation.

After his death, his brother and sister took over for the company.

From all the articles, Julian Mercer is nothing more than a figurehead and playboy,”

Ethan showed him another news article.

‘Julian Mercer takes over as head of Mercer Group, but denies allegations of sexual harassment of employees in his company.’

Gene didn’t like that either. It told him all he had to know about the man, and it also skeeved him out that they were about to walk into his home.

If he was sexually harassing employees, could he be peddling flesh?

“Well, that’s ick. Again, keep that Blackhawk grin in the car, EJ. I’m a man on the edge in this town.”

Yeah, he could see that, and the last thing he wanted to do was push Gene closer to the edge. Javier had done that plenty.

“We’ll be okay,” Ethan promised.

Gene turned off the car, and he wasn’t kidding.

“Please don’t be sexy,” he said.

He would have laughed if the look on Gene’s face wasn’t serious.

“I promise I won’t. You’re driving the bus on this one. I won’t say a word. I’ll profile it, and keep it to myself until we get to the car.”

Okay, that helped.

Getting out, they headed to the front door that was still ornately decorated for Christmas. With the snow falling, it was pretty.

As they reached the door, it was pulled open before they could even knock, and there stood a man. He was in silk pajamas, and he was grinning wickedly with a drink in his hand.

Well, yolo.

It was five o’clock somewhere.

For the non-alcoholics, it was only noon there, and way too early to drink.

“Agents, come in. I’ve been expecting you. I know why you’re here,” he admitted as they walked in.

Honestly, his words caught them off guard. Normally, people hated talking to them, and they absolutely didn’t admit to anything before they asked questions.

Color him curious.

“You do?” Gene asked.

He smiled wickedly at Ethan, winking at him.

“Yes, you suspect I’m behind the deaths of three college students who received scholarships from us. Let’s just say that word travels in our community.”

Uh, that was…off.

Who gave him the heads-up?

How the hell did he know that?

And what freaking community was he talking about?

Jesus.

H.

Christ.

So much for having the upper hand on this one.

It was what he said next that befuddled the fuck out of both Ethan and Gene.

“Only, I didn’t kill them,” he admitted. “I liked each of them a great deal. Oh, and I slept with them.”

Well, holy shit.

This took a turn.

This might be the first time a suspect came clean BEFORE they asked any questions.