Gene was high on pain meds, and wouldn’t be fair prey to The Dragon Slayer.
Ethan had to protect him.
“I was there long enough to profile a case, Deputy Director.”
Gabe closed the file.
It was time.
Someone was getting a little too ballsy.
“So, you’re being reassigned. Since you love Puerto Rican vacations, the director and I have decided that you’re going to be going back to Puerto Rico.”
That hung there.
Oh, and Ethan fought to keep his face neutral.
It took everything he had, too.
“If that’s what you want, Director. We can pack up our place, and head there.”
They’d have to break that to Corbin. He was on his own, unless he wanted to relocate to the local police force. They were down a detective, but who knew?
At his words, Gabe actually laughed.
Oh, the loyalty was strong with this one. Only, that made Gabe even more curious about how much this man would take before betraying his partner.
It was time to pick at his one weakness.
His.
Ambition.
Every agent had it, but Ethan Blackhawk had it inSPADES.
“No, you’ve misunderstood. There is no‘WE’. There’s you, and there’s Cantrell. I’m pulling you so that we don’t have to be distracted, Agent. He’s staying in Philly. You, Ethan, are not.”
At his words, Ethan’s heart was racing.
That was the worst-case-scenario. That was his big fear, and before Gene, he wouldn’t have given a shit. He would have taken a new partner and moved on. It had all been in the plan to move up the ladder by being a good FBI lackey. Only, now, he’d found something so valuable.
LOVE.
“Gene and I work well together. There’s no distraction,” he stated.
Gabe rattled off the distractions.
“Javier Hughes is there, and it’s getting more difficult to keep him away from you. You’ll be safer in Puerto Rico, and Gene will be safer with you far from him. You’re a danger to your partner.”
Gabe watched, and he saw the emotion flicker in his eyes, and then, how it was shoved back down.
Yeah, he found his weakness.
Oh, Ethan Blackhawk was good, but Gabe had been doing this twice as long as he had been.
He’d been raised by a man who had been an agent. Gabe was familiar with how to play any game.
“Now, Puerto Rico is down two agents, and I’ll get another sent there. Maybe they’ll learn how to cowboy it up just like you. You know…by getting your partner in a shit ton of trouble and lying to your boss.”
