Page 182 of Sticks and Stones
* * * Blackhawk & Cantrell * * *
The Morgue
Three P.M.
Saturday
Because he knew better than to fall behind when it came to his job, Gene was staying ahead of this potential runaway train.
There was no way he was being blindsided by being complacent. There was no doubt he needed to follow the normal steps, and start from the beginning of the case.
He also knew when to make a call.
To Gabe.
This whole situation made him twitchy, and he didn’t like that Snow was Stateside, and now in his lap. His better judgment told him to let his boss know now.
Not.
Later.
Yeah, he was going to deal with it head-on.
Dialing, he hoped his boss had some good advice on how to handle this—or better yet, he yanked it from him. Gene wasn’t excited about Snow.
When the man answered, he seemed to be in a good mood. Hopefully, he stayed that way.
“Yes, Agent?” he asked.
Well, his fingers were crossed.
“Sir, I’ve come across something, and it’s worrisome,” he said, knowing he couldn’t out Elizabeth. So, he was going to play dumb.
“I’m going to assume it’s related to the case we discussed earlier?” he asked.
Oh, he could say that.
“We just found out from the police working this that there’s a drug connection. It’s a new one, and they think it’s from Colombia.”
As soon as he said it, there was dead silence on the line.
“They think that the traffickers are not only taking men, but using them as mules to get the drugs around the country from city-to-city. It’s looking like it’s tied to my case, but I’ll know when I speak to the city ME about toxicology.”
Gabe didn’t like this.
Not.
At.
All.
He’d believed they’d seen the end of El Gato and Addiction.
“Did they say what the drug was?” he asked, holding his breath. His fingers were crossed, and so were his toes. The last thing he needed was for this to be what he thought it was.
Gene had to think fast on his feet.
“Snow,” he said, using the name the two detectives used from their street rat who gave them intel.
