Chapter Two #5
“Not your circus, and not your monkeys. Are they closing cases?” she asked.
Gene answered because he knew Gabe wouldn’t.
“Yes. We close every single one, and he knows it. Like the one where the Philly cop was abducted and hurt. We found the sex trafficker, didn’t we?” he asked Gabe.
Why?
Because he’d sold his soul to work another year in Philly for the location of the asshole, so he could take out the trash.
Gabe was complicit in that too.
He had him over the barrel for one more thing.
Elizabeth kept talking.
“Are they cleaning up the mess?”
“Yes,” Gene admitted.
She wasn’t done.
“Are they keeping the relationship on the DL and the only way it got out is you had to have a spy help?” she asked.
Gene went there.
“YES.”
Well, then…
“Back off of them. Let them do their goddamn jobs. I don’t know if you realize this or not, Gabe, but the world is going to shit. The last thing we need is fewer agents to hold back the onslaught. Gene is a good agent. I’m sure his partner is too. Back off before you lose all your good people.”
Gene looked over.
“Can you get me and my partner into the CIA?” he asked. “We’ll jump alphabet agencies too.”
Elizabeth nodded.
“Likely. See, the director there hates Director Moore. He’s taking all the agents jumping off of the ship. It seems he wants the lion’s share of funding from the Federal government. So, he’s taking all the good agents who are tired of being boned by upper management.”
Gabe stared her down. In a way, he was proud they’d managed to beat him in that ‘look at your kids finally outthinking you’ kind of a way.
He sighed.
That was their sign the tides had turned.
Deep down, Gene knew this wouldn’t have turned out this way had it not been for Elizabeth.
He owed her for helping him resolve this and to stay the hell out of jail today.
“Come on, Gabe,” she stated.
Their boss gave up.
This round went to the agents.
“Fine,” he said. “He and his partner are to report back to the Philadelphia office. His partner can have his badge back,” he stated, opening his desk drawer and pulling out a gun box with his badge sitting on top of it.
Only, Elizabeth wasn’t done.
“I want Daphne Carmichael picked up and put anywhere but near the FBI. I’ve bled for this job. The last thing I want is that piece of shit psychopath playing Fed. That you gave her a badge and let her taint our pond…that’s foul.”
Gabe didn’t like being bossed around.
But he couldn’t lose Elizabeth as an agent. She did the lion’s share of serial killer cases that no one else could solve. She was the best agent they had.
Gene was the second.
“We will have words when I’m not angry,” Gabe said. “Bet on it.”
She wasn’t shocked.
Not.
At.
All.
Only, he’d get over it, like she always got over him fucking her over.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you say. Just stop being a dick and playing with our lives!”
It appeared that for the time being, Gabe was being held hostage by his choices. One day, he’d return the favor, and she’d better not bitch about it.
When he said nothing, she tried to smooth it over.
“Gabe, come on. They are big boys. They take responsibility. It’s not like one of them is going to be pregnant and working!”
Gene laughed.
He felt a million times better.
Elizabeth continued.
“I doubt that his partner killed the dirty Fed out of anger. The rogue agent was killing his partner. It was a justified shooting, and to use it as leverage, making a person choose between duty and their partner’s life is going to be problematic.
What if he didn’t save Gene, but saved the bad guy? Who loses then?”
Gene just stood there.
But he was thinking one thing.
Elizabeth would be an amazing boss, and he hoped one day, she replaced Gabe.
He was the douchiest douche that ever did douche. To question if it was done out of rage or necessity was proof that he’d been out of the field too long.
“Again, you and your partner are to return to the office to start back to work. He’s on duty. You’re on desk duty. If you can come in here and threaten your boss, you can sit your ass in a chair and research for your partner. Your arm must not hurt that much. No pain meds on desk duty.”
He was fine with that.
Oh, his arm hurt like a bitch, but he’d do what it took to save Ethan’s career.
Gabe was pouting, and Elizabeth knew the look.
“Don’t make me pull the last card,” she said to him, and immediately, he knew what she meant.
Elizabeth rarely brought up killing the man who raped Livy, and impregnated her, but she would—when this man got a little too big for his britches.
“That’s a bridge too far, LaRue,” he warned. “Keep that in mind. I’m not the only one who will go down.”
She was aware.
Some secrets needed to stay that way.
Instead of commenting on that, she distracted him.
“Why can’t you stop playing king and do something productive? Hey, run for president. That way you can be busy, and we can stop having situations where you get up in our business.”
He said nothing, and that told her that it was best to put space between them. Oh, someone was getting the shit cases until he calmed down.
She hoped Gene and his partner were ready for it.
Worried he might change his mind, Gene tucked away Ethan’s gun and badge.
“You’re welcome. If anyone finds out you’re having a relationship with your partner, it’s over. PERIOD,” Gabe warned. “I don’t care if ‘everyone’ is doing it. It’s done.”
Gene had no choice.
He’d take that deal, and they’d make sure no one, but Greyson, knew.
“Get back to Philly,” Gabe said, not mincing words.
Oh, and in that moment, Gene knew that Gabe was NEVER going to help them again.
They were going to be on their own in Philly when it came to Javier Hughes.
Fine by him.
“He’s out West at his grandfather’s. I’ll go get him, and we’ll be back to work on Monday,” he stated.
Gabe just nodded.
Then, Gene headed out.
When he was gone, Elizabeth stood there.
“That was ridiculous,” he said to her. “You’re taking a big risk that he won’t say shit and ruin your career, and mine.”
She shrugged.
“Gabe, you’re an idiot, and I’m not talking about the meddling. I was all in when I heard you put Daphne Carmichael into play after what she did…if that gets out, your ass is grass. You won’t have to worry about my career. Yours is done.”
He said nothing.
It wasn’t like he didn’t know that, but when you rode in this office, you had to make risky arrangements. One day, she’d see. After how she handled this, calming Gene down, and getting resolution told him one thing.
She’d be an excellent boss.
Now, he had a whole other goal to focus on.
Ethan Blackhawk would come back, and he’d need a strong partner. Gene Cantrell wasn’t Elizabeth Blackhawk. So, now, he’d see how all of this played out.
No one had been more upset when Ethan turned in his badge. He had high hopes for the man, and now, they were back.
“Get off Gene’s ass. Let him and his partner be. We’re loyal, and you push us like we’re not vital to this agency. You’re going to lose people.”
He was curious.
“Are you bailing?”
She stared him in the eyes.
“Send someone to pick up Daphne and get her the fuck out of the FBI. That’s an insult to every cop who works here. She’s dirty, and she was mob. If you remove her, and back off of Gene and Ethan, I’ll stay.”
He was curious.
“Why did you just go to bat for them?” he asked. “And for the record, his partner would be the best partner for you. My plan was to give you the best profiler.”
She shrugged.
“I have Salem, and I don’t need another profiler. I can do this on my own. As for why I went to bat for them, it’s because if I needed Gene, he’d have my back.”
“You hope.”
No, she knew.
Gene was an old-school Fed. She could feel it to her bones. He had a code of honor, and he played fair. That’s the kind of person she wanted helping her.
“He’s a good Fed. Back off.”
He simply sat down.
There was a wrench in his plans, and now, he needed to regroup to figure them out. He hadn’t just given Daphne Carmichael an out for funsies. She had a wealth of information that they needed regarding situations out West.
“I don’t feel like talking to you right now,” he stated. “I’d head out if I was you.”
Well, she could do that.
And she did.
Before leaving the building, she grabbed her shit from her cubical desk and headed down to go out the front door. That’s when she saw him.
Gene was leaning against a vehicle.
Smoking.
Oh, well, he was still stressed.
Heading over, she faced him and mimicked his stance against the flashy red car parked next to his.
“Smoking is bad for you,” she stated. “Have another?” she asked.
Well, since this was his second one, he certainly did have more. He’d grabbed them in the airport, suspecting he was going to need something to dull that rage.
He pulled one from the pack in his pocket and handed it to her.
“Don’t tell anyone, but it’s my emergency vice,” he said. “I do it behind my partner’s back when I’m stressed, and I’m well aware that it will likely kill me, if Philadelphia doesn’t first.”
She snorted.
“Same,” she said, letting him light it for her. This was more about making sure Gene was calm than smoking.
She liked fornicating as her preferred vice, but she understood where he was coming from with this one.
They all had to go sometime. Granted, she’d likely go down by a serial killer rather than a ciggy, but whatever floated his boat.
“You okay?” she finally asked.
He laughed and sounded tired.
“Yeah, I’ll be okay. Thanks for what you did,” he said, blowing smoke out the corner of his mouth so as not to blow it at her.
She was to the point.
“He’s not a total asshole. He’s a good boss.
He just can’t help but play games. He was a profiler before he became a director, and then the deputy director.
His father was a profiler, too. It’s in his blood to tug strings.
If Gabe isn’t up your ass, he hates your fucking guts.
That he’s all over you and your partner should tell you that he sees promise in you—or that’s what I tell myself. ”
Gene sighed.
“He’s saved us a few times. It just pissed me off. I don’t like anyone poking into my relationship.”
She got that.
“Same boat. Hey, we can double date. Christopher will be happy that men around us won’t be checking out my tits for the first time in our relationship.”
He laughed.
Yeah, he was NOT letting Ethan anywhere near Elizabeth. She was a little too pretty for Gene’s own good, and they had a very similar personality.
That just screamed dangerous to him.
“Thanks for the offer. If I ever make it back to this city, I’ll give you a call. At this rate, I’m stuck in Philly for a small eternity. Oh, and now, even longer because you know he’s going to take this out on me.”
She laughed.
And laughed.
And laughed.
“Oh, hell, yeah, he is. Right now, he’s trying to find a case for me, and it’s likely going to be particularly nasty. He’s a dick, but he’s our dick.”
Gene laughed.
Yeah, he felt a million times better.
When he flinched, she was worried.
“Arm?”
He nodded.
“Yeah, I can’t take pain pills and fly. I get loopy, so I’m raw dogging it on this one.”
She went into her messenger bag, and she pulled out a bottle of aspirin, then, she handed him the bottle.
“I keep it for the speciously large headache I get when Gabe’s around,” she joked. “Pop a few when you get on your flight.”
He would.
“Again, thanks, LaRue. You didn’t have to help or give me these.”
She stopped him.
“Yeah, I did. You’re a good agent, Gene.
I’m not going to let him tear down the good ones.
Then, why am I here? I’m supposed to protect and serve, not watch jackassery and say nothing.
Standing by and being silent makes you complicit to the crime.
Just like if you were a bad Fed, shooting citizens, I’d stand up and fight against you.
My job is to be on the side of justice. We all took that oath to the Constitution. Protect and serve.”
He was aware.
“Besides, you’d have my back if it was reversed. I don’t doubt that.”
Honestly, he would.
“You’d better believe it, sunshine. If you need me, call. I owe you one.”
She took one more drag and then dropped the cigarette butt onto the ground to stomp it out. Pulling some perfume from her bag, she spritzed herself.
Why?
Well, maybe because Chris HATED when she smoked. Picking up a whiff of smoke, he’d know it had been a rough meeting with Gabe.
Gene stayed downwind of the perfume. It was pricey, and he didn’t need his man thinking he was rolling around with a babe.
“Good luck, Chuckles. He’s going to have a case for you bright and early on Monday. I hope you and your partner are ready for the roughest fuck of your lives. No lube, no condom, and all kinds of Gabe behind you laughing.”
He snorted.
Oh, well, that was a pretty picture.
NOT.
“If he comes back, I’ll expect it. He lived for this job, and losing it rattled him. Now, I have to go track him down. My partner…his one goal in life is to be the head of the FBI.”
She laughed.
And laughed.
And laughed.
Who would want that?
That was insanity.
“Get him into therapy. Who the fuck would want to run this shitshow? You have to be out of your goddamn noggin to want to play this game as the boss. I can barely play it as a peon. Talk him out of that.”
Oh, he got what she was saying.
“I’ll try.”
He felt the same, too.
She tapped her fingers to her forehead, saluting him, and then walked around the flashy red car to get behind the wheel.
When she pulled out, he watched the Mercedes head out of the lot, and he whistled.
It looked like LaRue had it made. Her ME was taking damn good care of her. That car cost more than double their salaries.
Lucky her.
Because the day was ticking away, and he had a flight to catch, Gene flicked his cigarette into the dirt, and got into the rental.
Now, he had to get to Ethan, hope he wasn’t too far gone, and bring him home.
Oh, and forgive him.
Gene was trying to come to terms with that.