Catch A Tiger By The Tail (THIRDS 6)

Traffic was a nightmare, and it seemed to take forever to get back to HQ. Maddock hadn’t even put the BearCat in its parking space before Calvin was jumping out. Ethan was almost grateful he was heading straight to the sarge’s office. Calvin needed time on his own to cool off. Maybe by then he wouldn’t look at Ethan with those big blue eyes filled with anger and disappointment. Ethan hated disappointing Calvin most of all. He’d known there wasn’t enough time to disarm the bomb, yet he’d pushed his luck. It had been a stupid move, and now he had to answer for it. In his position, a few seconds meant the difference between walking away or having his name end up on a plaque on THIRDS headquarters’ wall of fallen agents.

The team headed upstairs, with Dex and Sloane getting off on the fifteenth floor to get some lunch and Dex’s third cappuccino that day. By now he was normally on his fifth. Ethan hoped Dex didn’t find out Sloane had convinced Debbie the barista to make Dex’s every other cappuccino caffeine free. He could imagine the pandemonium it would cause.

Ethan reached Maddock’s office in Unit Alpha. His sergeant had somehow beaten him to it. He was typing away at his desk’s interface. Finishing up, he tapped the surface before raising his head to study Ethan, his lips pursed. Ethan knew that look. It was the Sergeant Maddock “What’s the best way to make you suffer without physically strangling you” expression. Usually Dex was the one at the end of that look.

“I was going to chew you out, but I decided against it.”

Ethan cocked his head to one side. Oh? Okay. That sounds good to me. Wait. Ethan narrowed his eyes. There was a catch. He could see it in Maddock’s eyes. Oh boy. Was he going to be on equipment duty for the foreseeable future? Surely what he’d done couldn’t be worse than any of the dozens of harebrained schemes Dex had involved himself in over the last year and a half. Okay, maybe it was a tad worse.

“I’m not going to chew you out because your boyfriend is going to do it for me.” A smug smile spread across Maddock’s face. “And that will be much, much worse.”

Ethan wrinkled his nose. Yeah, it would be. Cal was going to—Wait, boyfriend? Ethan’s expression must have said it all, because the sarge sat back in his chair with a sigh. He laced his fingers over his stomach and shook his head.

“Which part are you surprised about more, the word boyfriend or the fact I know about you two?”

Ethan held up two fingers together. Both. Definitely both.

“So, you’re not there yet on the first one, okay. That’s none of my business. But the second one is. Did you really think I wouldn’t notice? That I don’t know what goes on with my team?” A deep frown came onto Maddock’s face. “Eight thousand agents in HQ, and you boys gotta date each other. I blame Dex.”

Ethan arched an eyebrow at him.

“If there’s crazy going on, that boy’s never far from it. It spreads. But damn, I love him. Even if he’s turned my team into some big hippie lovefest. Can I offer you some advice? From a guy who’s got two sons with emotionally stunted boyfriends? The longer you try to ignore it, the more you’ll hurt him. Things have changed. You can’t go back to the way things were. And you sure as hell can’t let it impede your performance, or Sparks will have your asses.”

Ethan nodded his agreement. He knew that. He put a hand to his chest and patted it.

“Okay, so you’re trying. Calvin knows you’re trying. He needs more than that. You both do.”

The door to Maddock’s office opened, and Sparks hurried in looking flustered. “Tony, we need to discuss—” Sparks stopped short when she noticed Ethan standing there. “My apologies, I didn’t know you were busy.”

“It’s fine. We’re done here,” Maddock replied with a smile before turning his attention back to Ethan and giving him a pointed look. “Remember what I told you. And don’t forget those reports. I want them ASAP. Close the door behind you.”

Ethan nodded. He gave Sparks a nod in greeting before leaving and closing the door. He’d never seen the lieutenant flustered before. It was a strange sight. When he reached his office, Calvin was nowhere to be found. Where was his partner? Ethan tapped away at his desk and pressed his hand to the security panel, logging him in. Entering his security clearance, he searched for his partner’s earpiece signal. He was in Dex and Sloane’s office. Maybe he should stop by and check on Calvin. He was about to get up when Dex ran in.

“Hide me!” Dex dropped to his knees by Ethan’s feet and crawled under his desk.

Okay. Just another day at the office. Ethan arched an eyebrow at Dex. What have you done now?

“I may or may not have Photoshopped Ash’s face onto an image of Aslan and sent it out to the whole of Unit Alpha with this morning’s PR memo. They really should have known better than to give me access to their template, so technically it’s their fault.”

How have I not seen this? Ethan swiftly tapped his desk and opened the memo sitting unread in his inbox. The moment he saw the photo of Ash’s growly face on the CGI lion body, Ethan burst out into laughter. It was the most amazing thing he’d ever seen.

“Daley, you little sack of shit! Get out here so I can kick your ass!”

Ethan swiped his hand across his desk and got rid of the memo just as Ash stepped into the office. It took everything Ethan had not to laugh in Ash’s reddened face. The guy was practically spitting fire.

“Have you seen Daley?”

Ethan shook his head, his lips pressed tightly together. Don’t laugh. Don’t laugh. Ash narrowed his eyes, and Ethan couldn’t hold it in anymore. He held his hands up in apology but couldn’t get himself to stop laughing. It especially didn’t help that Ash had the same expression on his face now that he did in the image.

“Fuck you.” Ash spun on his heels and marched off, bellowing down the corridor as he searched for Dex, leaving casualties in his wake. Poor Herrera. Ash was never going to forget or forgive him for taking a piss on his fern. Ethan held his palm out, and Dex slapped him five. He was so going to print out the memo. Something told him there would be plenty of copies circulating the department. Dex inched closer to Ethan, his voice a whisper.

“Is he gone?”

Ethan listened carefully. From the sounds of it, Ash had left Unit Alpha. He was most likely heading to the canteen. That’s where Ethan would check if he was looking for Dex. He gave Dex a nod and was going to roll away from his desk so he could get out, when the chair got snagged on something. Dex tried to push at Ethan’s knees and seemed to forget how low the desk was. He hit his head, cursing up a storm as he fell forward, his hands gripping hold of Ethan’s thighs and his face landing on the chair between Ethan’s legs.

Sloane and Calvin chose that exact moment to walk in.

“It’s not what it looks like,” Dex said, trying to push Ethan away.