The man sighed as the Fed laughed.
“I told you he could spell,” Gene admitted when Ethan fist bumped him.
Clearly, the detective was outnumbered on this one.
“Fine. Hopefully, you’re good in inclement weather. There’s some snow coming,” he stated. “While it might be spring back on the East Coast, you know how the Utah mountains are.”
Ethan recalled.
It was also why they were going skiing when this shitshow was officially over.
“I’m ready,” Ethan said. “We need to get our hands on some Kevlar. Specifically, you, Gene,” he added. “This person shot at you, not me.”
Oh, he didn’t like that.
Not.
At.
All.
Oh, and it had nothing to do with him being shot at, but instead, with Ethan not wearing any. That was happening over his dead body.
Trust and believe.
He glanced at the detective.
“Do you by any chance have Kevlar in your ride that we can borrow until we get some when our team is settled?” Gene asked.
He nodded.
“I do,” he said, patting his midsection. “I put it on when I saw you were shot at.”
He went there.
“Well, can we borrow some for a little while?”
The man nodded.
“Absolutely. I always wear it when I’m not in the office. I don’t want to die. My girl likes me whole, not holey. There are two more vests behind my seat of my truck. I carry spares for me and my partner.”
Then, he went there.
“Speaking of my partner…”
Gene stopped him.
“Too soon, Detective. Too soon. I just started not disliking you. Don’t rush it. Give us a chance to not hate your partner too.”
He clammed up.
Yeah, there was no doubt it was because his partner being bitchy toward the pretty one. The big man clearly didn’t like anyone annoying his partner.
AND ‘PARTNER’.
As the men grabbed their things, Gene knew he’d promised to handle Callen, so that was exactly what he was going to do. It would be a quick talk.
Then, they’d roll.
