Page 101 of Sticks and Stones

Gene took them, and tried to keep his cool. It wasn’t easy since he was freaking angry about all of this. He wasn’t going to give him any more information that he’d speculated on himself.

“For the record, Captain Guy, he wasn’t ready for undercover. He got fed to the sharks, and that’s how he got hurt. That’s not on the FBI. That’s on you, the Vice detectives, and your boss.”

Oliver sat.

“He wanted in, Gene. I babysit, but it’s not my place to stop detectives from having ambition. He’s got a good close history, and again, you and your partner made sure of that. How were we to know that he couldn’t do the job?”

Gene stood up.

Oh, he was lucky that he was on the clock, or someone would be getting torn a new one for that shitty comment.

Corbin was a good cop, but he wasn’t‘work undercover alone’good.

That was dangerous even for a seasoned investigator.

“Captain, again, you’re not putting this on the FBI. Our job is to help keep this city from being a crime-ridden shitshow. We didn’t inflate Detective Price’s closures. He worked on those cases with us, and he was allowed the credit. You know that. At any point, you could have said absolutely not.”

Oliver was to the point.

“I also knew that he would ask you two for help if he got in over his head. It looks as if I was right because here you are, and once more, we’re going to the‘FBI rodeo’. It seems I nailed that one. Maybe he should just work with you guys, instead of us.”

That made Gene go red that this asshole would let a cop be hurt as he took a calculated risk.

As he was about to tell him to fuck all the way off, Greyson stood and put his hand on Gene’s back.

This conversation was done.

Greyson was stepping in before it escalated.

Gene was going red, and he didn’t blame him. They really did throw Corbin to the wolves, and whether they did it intentionally, or accidentally, it didn’t matter.

The bottom line was Corbin hadn’t been ready, and this was the fallout from it.

“Well, when we give our media update, we’ll remember that,” Greyson said, much to the man’s horror.

“Wait. What?”

He smiled.

“I think you heard me,” he stated. “I’m sure the media willLOVEto hear that you let an inexperienced cop go undercoverALONE. Trust me, Captain, when this hits the media, we won’t be the bad guys. I hope this office is Alice-proof. She gets testy and will likely talk to the media too.”

His eyes were huge.

And Gene would have laughed had his blood pressure not been so high that he was ready to stroke out. They weren’t telling the media shit, but this man had no clue.

“We’ll take the files and handle this,” Greyson said, continuing before Oliver could say anything else. “As for Corbin’s assault, if you have any decency, you’ll not blab that around the place. Because that’s going to trigger an immediate media junket. I can promise that they’ll get the news scoop of the decade, and I’ll make it so salacious that your picture, and the commissioner’s will be on the front page. Test me. Gene is nice. I’m not.”

Oliver got it.

“I won’t say anything. My boss has already warned me, and hopefully, your boss will warn you about dragging the media into this.”

Oh, well, GabeLOVEDthe media. Well, using it to decimate asshole cops who thought they could be dicks.

The cop was to the point.

“Again, we want to be in the loop. The trafficking case is important to the commissioner. He personally picked Detectives Rivet and Eastcott for the case, and he wants it handled.”

Oh, it would be, but for now, they were done there.