Page 73 of Sticks and Stones
Did.
Only, for Ethan, here came the bad news.
“That’s the first half, but after talking to him, Gabe said he won’t just give us Corbin’s rape case. That’s one he has to talk to the Commissioner about.”
Ethan got angry.
What the hell?
Since when did he not want them overwhelmed and overworked? That was right up his alley.
“What do you mean he won’t give it to us? Any idiot can see it’s tied to it. He wouldn’t have been assaulted had he not been working that case.”
Oh, he was aware.
Only, why did Gabe do what he did?
That was one of the great FBI mysteries—much like J. Edgar Hoover’s boner over spying on anyone he could build files on.
“He said there’s only one way to get it. I had to make a deal with him,” Gene admitted, being honest. With Ethan, lying was always a bad idea.
He could see through most of them—like when he was being sneaky at Christmas to buy him presents with his tattoo.
That had bitten him in the ass.
“What’s the deal?” he asked, curiously. Gene sounded hesitant, so he knew it would suck. Most of the deals done withGabe did. Thus, why agents tried to avoid that nightmare at all costs.
The favor purveyor was evil.
Because Gabe had managed to hit that one sore spot for Ethan, Gene tried to soften the blow.
“Have I told you how much I love you?” he asked, trying to find a way to do this.
It was going to suck.
“Oh, no,” Blackhawk said. Whenever someone sugarcoated the precursor to bad news, it was going to be damn ugly. “What did you do, Gene?” he asked.
Since he was onto him, Gene pulled the bandage off as quickly as possible.
“Gabe said that the only way he’d get us Corbin’s case was if we stayed inPhiladelphiafor another year, give or take. If not, we couldn’t work Corbin’s case.”
There.
Was.
Silence.
Oh, Gene suspected he was either sleeping on the couch, or crying in a beer over his new breakup. There weren’t many options on this, and he knew it. He’d taken a deal without consulting with Ethan first.
Desperation, thy name was Cantrell.
Ethan didNOTlike it inPhiladelphia. He’d rather work directly in the hottest part of Hell before being locked out of DC for another year.
When he heard that, there was only one answer, and Ethan knew it.
“Okay. So, we stay another year,” he finally said. “Corbin is our family, and he’d do it for us. I can survive a third year.”
Wait.
