I.N.E.T 5

by Brenda Cothern

  I.N.E.T.

  International Narcotics

  Enforcement & Tracking

  Book 5

  Brenda Cothern

  I.N.E.T. 5

  By Brenda Cothern © 2020

  Cover Photo (Cabin) © Greg Rakozy on Unsplash

  Author Photo by Bruce Hardin © Brenda Cothern

  All Rights Reserved.

  Smashwords Edition

  ISBN-13: 978-1-943949-42-7

  First Printing Jan. 2020

  No part of this work may be copied, reproduced, altered, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, in any way, without prior, written permission from the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages within the review for publication in a newspaper, magazine, journal, or on a website.

  This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, (some) places, and situations are the products of the author’s imagination and intended to be fictional. Any resemblances to actual events, situations, or persons, alive or dead, are entirely coincidental.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book contains M/M sexual situations and is intended for readers of legal age in the country in which they reside. Please store your adult literature responsibly.

  Wench Publishing, Inc.

  6516 Dartmouth Rd.

  Lakeland, FL. 33809

  ~##~

  Dedication

  To all my fans who have patiently waited for Lita’s story.

  Acknowledgements

  Of course, I have to once again thank my beta team, both those who have been with me for several books and all of the new members who have joined me for this one.

  Lora, Shirley, Danielle, & Melissa, I would be lost without you guys! Thanks for all your hard work since 2014! 

  ~##~

  Table of Contents

  Title

  Copyright

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  About the Author

  GLBT Support Organizations

  ##~~##

  Chapter One

  “Fucking Florida summers,” Eddie Hypolita grumbled out a curse as he stepped off the elevator into the Southeast Division of I.N.E.T.’s headquarters. He’d been employed at the International Narcotics Tracking and Enforcement agency for the last eleven years and couldn’t imagine doing anything else. Of course, being recruited when he was twenty-one meant he didn’t know how to do anything else but work undercover.

  However, today’s weather was no different from what he’d experienced during the last eleven summers. Lita, as his coworkers dubbed him, actually loved living in Florida. He loved the almost continuous sunshine year-round and even the occasional tropical storm and less frequent hurricanes. Thunderstorms full of lightning were actually his favorite weather when it came to Florida.

  Today’s weather fell into none of those he enjoyed. No, today was like almost every day between August and November. Rain, pouring rain, that didn’t even have the decency to bring some thunder and lightning with it, even though the sky darkened teasingly. The afternoon storms which in his opinion didn’t even warrant the label didn’t last long enough. They only made the humidity worse, too.

  Lita could deal with the heat and humidity, but he hated dealing with being soaked after getting caught in an afternoon shower. His long, dirty blonde hair was plastered over his shoulders and down his back. His button-down was as well from soaking up the water his suit jacket absorbed. His slacks weren’t much better, but at least they still unstuck from his legs when he walked. Thankfully, his feet remained dry.

  Normally, getting caught in the rain wearing the godforsaken suit their boss required them to wear while working in the office never would’ve happened to him. Hell, if he’d even thought there was a chance he’d end up soaked in his business attire, he would have worn jeans and a T-shirt. They all had done it before and their boss never complained as long as they changed into a suit to work in the office. He didn’t just bring a suit to work with him today because he actually thought having an appointment for his annual mental and physical checkup meant something.

  He should’ve fucking known better. Appointments didn’t mean shit these days. Still, he hadn’t expected to spend two hours, two and a half if he counted the wait time after his scheduled appointment, to be seen by both doctors. Lita would have just said ‘fuck it’ to the bullshit if he could. Sadly, he couldn’t though unless he wanted to be suspended.

  His boss, Jonathan Chadwick Fisher, Jr., Fish to them, wasn’t fucking around with the threat. Lita was already three months past his checkup date and normally would’ve laughed the threat off. But, he didn’t. Fish had never suspended them before when he threatened to do so. Well, he never had until a few months ago when he suspended Slade.

  They were all blown away when it happened, but Lita was sure no one was more shocked than Slade. Fish actually followed through with his threat and suspended his teammate who was unquestionably the best and longest employed agent in the Southeast Division. Slade deserved it though, after the stunt he’d pulled, but they never expected Fish to actually suspend him. Now, none of them dared take Fish’s threats of suspension as empty anymore.

  “Wet cats are so adorable.” Spider smirked.

  Lita flicked off the former ATF agent turned teammate as he peeled out of his wet suit jacket. He draped it over the back of his chair and didn’t give a shit if it was dripping steady drops of water onto the floor. The carpet would soak it up and he didn’t care about that either. His desk chair didn’t have any fabric or leather since it was some sort of wire mesh, so Lita didn’t hesitate to sit his wet ass down before booting up his computer.

  He logged into their network while water pooled around his arms on his workstation. Lita waited for their computer guru to bitch at him. Hunt clearly saw the sprinkling of drops which landed around, and some on, his keyboard. The man said nothing, though. Instead, Hunt just watched him login.

  The moment his screen switched to where Lita was used to seeing his desktop and where the multitude of small icons should be littered, Lita understood his teammate’s silence. His desktop was nowhere to be seen. In its place was a waterlogged kitten, admittedly an adorable one, which had a bold caption that read: “Roar! I am fierce… Unless I am wet then I’m just a lovable INET agent.”

  “Asshole,” Lita said to Hunt’s smirking look while the rest of the team looked on and laughed.

  Lita clicked on his screen to make the wet kitten disappear. The result was a kitten yowl and saying in a high squeaky voice: “I am a lovable kitty INET agent! Love me, love me!”

  The damn kitten’s paws came up like they were pressing on the monitor from the inside and begging for a hug. Lita click the image again and attempted to make it shut the hell up. Unfortunately, every click made the now not so adorable kitten say: “I need love.” Over and over again.

  His coworkers roared with laughter. Lita was more annoyed than pissed off, so he
stopped clicking on his screen. They were all known for pulling stupid shit like this on one another. Truth be told, Lita would rather be the butt end of any one of his teammates’ jokes than Slade’s.

  Slade’s were always physical and his ideas of pranks were just as messy. The last time his crazy teammate pulled one, they all ended up covered in red glitter. Fucking craft herpes. The time before that it took Lita weeks of trying to wash out printer toner from his blonde hair.

  Thinking of his certifiably insane and unpredictable teammate had Lita scanning the office. None of them were assigned to an undercover assignment at the moment. They were all stuck in the office which was why the monotony was broken up by stupid jokes like the one currently demanding love on his screen.

  So, Slade should’ve been in the office. His more responsible partner, Knight, should be as well. Neither were which caused Lita to shift his gaze to Fish’s office. Their boss usually kept his door and privacy blinds open. Both were closed, now.

  “They in there?” Lita swiveled his chair to face Hunt and his partner, Payne, who was seated next to him. Before Hunt or Payne could answer, the somewhat muted sound of yelling could be heard. “Guess that answers that,” Lita said since anytime Fish yelled it more often than not it had everything to do with Slade.

  Poor Knight, Lita thought not for the first time.

  Slade’s partner took as much of a tongue lashing from Fish as Slade did even though the man hadn’t done anything wrong, himself. However, Lita had to admit that since he’d joined the team and partnered with Slade, Slade’s antics, as well as Fish having to chew his ass out, weren’t as often. In fact, since Knight’s last op which resulted in both men having another lover, Slade was almost well behaved. Almost.

  The team couldn’t decipher Fish’s words, but could easily hear his tone. It was a tone they had all long ago learned to associate with Slade having his ass chewed out for one reason or another. So, they basically all tried to ignore their boss’ yelling.

  “They aren’t in there,” Zep informed without looking away from Fish’s office.

  “They are teaching over at the DEA today,” Spider added.

  Lita raised a brow, but didn’t look at either of his teammates. Fish had his door and blinds closed and wasn’t yelling at Slade. That could only mean one thing. Fish was dealing with another federal agency. Lita didn’t need to look at his teammates to know they’d come to the same conclusion. Aside from Slade, nothing raised their boss’ ire more than having to deal with other federal agencies.

  INET operated outside of the normal federal bullshit. Being an international agency had everything to do with that and gave not only the agency, but them by extension, the ability to ignore the rules which more often than not limited the other agents to the point they weren’t nearly as effective as they could have been. Fish liked it that way. They all did and equally hated when they were forced, usually by threatening their funding, to work with other agencies.

  INET didn’t have the rivalry other agencies had with each other. They were the black sheep to all of them. In fact, if any agency should feel as if INET were a rival it should be the DEA. But surprisingly, the DEA secretly loved them. They were also the least of the alphabets Fish minded working with, so Lita was pretty sure they weren’t the agency who currently had Fish pissed off all to hell based on what they could hear.

  If Lita had to guess, Fish was likely dealing with some bureaucrat from the FBI, CIA, or ATF. He glanced at Spider and hoped it wasn’t his teammate’s former employer that had Fish so pissed. Then again, maybe Spider was hoping it was, if for no other reason than Fish might just be pissed enough to give him and his partner, Zep, an assignment to get them the hell out of the office.

  The thought almost made Lita jealous that his two teammates might get a reprieve from the office hell where they were all currently trapped. Of course, the thought of dealing with Fish while his boss was in such a mood squashed any jealousy he may have had toward his teammates.

  Lita shifted his gaze away from his pissed off boss’ office and turned back to Hunt. “Get this shit off my screen so I can work.”

  “Who are you kidding?” Payne chuckled. “You just want that kitten gone and it has nothing to do with getting to the paperwork we are all being tortured with.”

  “Hunt, just get the shit off my screen,” Lita requested without any heat in his tone.

  The sound of his annoyance was clear to everyone, but his tone had nothing to do with the wet kitten on his screen that was still begging to be loved and demanding a hug as if Lita could actually give the digital image one. Hell, if he could and it would make the damn thing disappear, he would have. No, his aggravation had everything to do with sitting at his workstation while soaking wet. In fact, his annoyance was great enough that he decided to change into his workout clothes that were in his locker down in the gym. Fish was in a mood, but Lita was uncomfortable enough in his drenched suit to risk his boss’ wrath by not wearing a suit while working in the office.

  Lita stood and was halfway to the door when the kitten stopped yelling ‘love me’ at the same time Fish’s voice boomed through the room.

  “Where the hell do you think you are going?”

  Lita turned and saw his boss, hands on his hips, and staring angrily at him. Even had Fish’s tone not been laced with anger, the expression on the man’s face made it more than clear his boss wasn’t a happy camper.

  Shit, Lita barely had time to think and regret his decision to shed his wet suit for dryer clothes when Fish practically yelled again.

  “I need a fucking volunteer and you just did.” Fish pointed to his office, but didn’t wait for Lita to reply before he turned on his heel and stormed back into his domain.

  “Fuck,” Lita cursed loud enough for his teammates to hear.

  Not surprisingly they all looked to be working studiously on the paperwork they all hated. His teammates were anything but stupid and more than smart enough to try and be invisible on their boss’ radar when he was in such a mood.

  Fish was pacing in front of his desk when Lita entered. He didn’t wait for his boss to order him to shut the door. Fish’s mood and behavior was more than enough for Lita to recognize this was a closed-door situation. So, after he closed Fish’s door behind him, Lita walked toward his boss’ desk. He didn’t sit, but his choice to stand had nothing to do with the lack of an invitation. No, it had everything to do with the fury he could practically physically feel radiating off his boss as the man paced between his guest chairs and desk.

  Lita knew from experience that Fish wouldn’t take his anger out on him physically, but he stood just inside the door out of respect for that anger. He wasn’t Slade who would joke and make light of Fish’s current state. So, he patiently waited in his damp suit he wanted nothing more than to change.

  “Fucking asshole,” Fish finally muttered with a growl before he stopped pacing and looked at Lita. “Not you,” Fish clarified.

  “I didn’t think you meant me,” Lita replied. “At least not this time.” Lita dared to grin and was relieved a small one was returned by Fish.

  “Sit down, Lita,” Fish ordered and followed his own request by taking a seat behind his desk. “I am sending you out which I am sure you are relieved to hear since I know how all of you hate being stuck in the office.”

  “But?” Lita asked because he sensed whatever Fish was sending him to do wasn’t a typical INET mission. Typical or not, Lita would do whatever Fish asked of him and his willingness had nothing to do with being trapped in the office doing paperwork. No, it had everything to do with his loyalty to the man who’d recruited him over a decade ago.

  “I’m not happy about it,” Fish stated the obvious, but Lita remained silent. “A debt has been called in and I’m not even sure why since it is more than likely just paranoia.”

  Lita had no idea what the hell Fish meant aside from the debt part. They all owed debts or favors to other agents or agencies. However, Fish’s comment about pa
ranoia confused and sparked Lita’s curiosity. So, he just waited for his boss to explain.

  “The Marshals have a CIA agent in protective custody,” Fish began and Lita spoke his knee-jerk reaction.

  “They what? How the hell is that even possible? The CIA could better protect their agent than the Marshals.”

  “The agent in question is more an informant then operative, but enough of an operative to be causing the Marshals a problem protecting them.”

  It didn’t escape Lita’s notice that his boss dodged answering his question about why the CIA wasn’t protecting their own.

  “Okay.” Lita made no attempt to hide his frown of confusion. “What does that have to do with us? We don’t do protective shit. I think between the CIA and the Marshals they’d have this covered. What do they need us for?”

  “If you’d let me fucking finish, I’ll tell you,” Fish growled out and Lita wasn’t offended by being on the receiving end of his boss’ anger which was still riding the man hard. “Juanita Sanchez,” Fish spat out the name.

  Lita didn’t even need to think hard to recall the woman’s file. She was the real brains behind one of Columbia’s strongest cartels. Her brother was just the organization’s front man, the face, since women were still seen as less. But years of tracking the cartel made it more than clear she was the real power who controlled the cartel’s dealings.

  “The CIA agent was her lover. She was placed in a low-level position when Intel indicated Juanita was branching out into terrorism. Juanita is financing some of our most popular terrorist organizations with her drug money. Apparently, she was investing into the advancement of nuclear weapon production.”

  Lita no longer felt his damp clothes and knew the chill he suddenly felt had nothing to do with the A/C blowing on him. The thought of a drug cartel branching into nuclear weapons, even though they usually dealt in weapons as frequently as drugs, was more than enough to send a chill through anyone. He was sure the horror of hearing such information was clear on his face. In fact, it stunned him speechless.