Page 66 of Sticks and Stones
Yeah, Gabe was going to be particularly bitchy when he was bothered at home, and it looked as if he was making that call.
Wasn’t he the lucky one?
Gene saw him hesitating.
“I have to do this, Grey. It’s that or me going rogue. I’m warning you in advance that I’m finding out who hurt Corbin, and I’m closing down that bar if it’s the last thing I do.”
Well, shit.
He gave him one last chance to back out before they were up to their eyeballs in it.
“Are you sure?” he asked, as he picked up the phone and held it in his hand.
Gene just nodded.
“I’m sure. Pull the trigger.”
Well, it looked as if they were making the call.
Because this shitshow was his to control, Greyson dialed the man’s private number. It was the one Gabe gave them in case the shit was hitting the fan, and he wasn’t in the office to take a call.
The bottom line was you didn’t call him at home unless it was dire. If you fucked around, you found out.
As they sat there, it rang three times. Then, it was answered by a grumpy-sounding boss.
“Rothschild. This had better be important.”
Yeah, here went everything.
Greyson put it on speaker so they could both be part of this little funfest.
Caring was sharing.
“Deputy Director, it’s Greyson Croft,” he offered. “We have a situation.”
The man sighed and then went there.
“What the hell did Blackhawk and Cantrell do now?” he asked, not missing a beat. “Did the cowboy burn the city down?” he added.
As he said it, Greyson stared at the man across from him.
See?he mouthed.
Gene just rolled his eyes. There was no surprise Gabe was cranky.
It was his middle name.
Since he was being called out, he was going to make sure Gabe knew he was hearing him.
“Uh, for the record, Cantrell is right here,” Gene said, in the third person. “And now, the cowboy is behaving, and so am I. We were leaving for vacation, and caught something.”
Gabe wasn’t shocked.
While highly effective, Cantrell, Blackhawk, and LaRue were his problem agents. The problem being when they went hard, they wentHARD.
And trouble ensued.
“I hope you caught a bug. The flu. Encephalitis. At this point, anything would be better but a problem—on my only day off.”
