Chapter Three
FBI West
Monday Morning
Ten A.M.
FBI West was adjusting to her being there. It had been a rough two weeks to get everyone acclimated with her ruling the roost, but so far, it was not too angsty. If they were upset, she got it, simply because Elizabeth understood that people had patterns.
They had things they did consistently, and there were people they enjoyed working with on a daily basis.
That wasn’t the case anymore.
Throwing a wrench, or in this case, the Deputy Director, into the works could be a challenge.
But most of them met it.
Once they realized that she wasn’t the lunatic that media made her out to be. If anything, she was pretty chill for a Director of the FBI.
Yeah, there were a few people who weren’t happy with the whole situation, and she was more than fine with that.
Everyone was entitled to be wary. God knew she’d been like that throughout the years as she waited to see the fallout of management.
Before she was management.
Yeah, back then, she never saw this coming.
Not.
At.
All.
Now, as she was in her office, Ian was doing a rundown of all the things she needed to be aware of, and the most alarming one was the one about Axelle.
Apparently, Ax and her brother were struggling when it came to the distance between them.
Geographically.
Axelle wanted him to come home, and Duke wanted to be here to work with her, and to be there for his mom. That did one thing.
Axelle wasn’t thrilled to not be his top priority.
And because of that, she was bitchy as hell to EVERYONE.
If she was taking aim at Elizabeth’s people, it had to be a bad situation.
Oh, this was going to suck.
Elizabeth could already tell.
Ian was to the point as he updated his boss.
“She’s demanded all paperwork be handled by the end of today. Luckily, I’m halfway through,” Ian said, “but I’d like to go on record and say she’s just being cunty. There’s no policy that says all paperwork has a twenty-four-hour turnaround.”
Elizabeth understood.
Someone was miserable.
“Well, she’s without her husband,” she said. “That tends to make a lady cranky, while the clit has cobwebs.”
He grimaced.
And it made her laugh.
How could it not?
Ian wasn’t having it.
Oh, he understood, but that didn’t mean you could take it out on everyone. Plus, Duke had it far more difficult. He had both kids with him, and his stepfather was dying.
In his opinion, the word ‘cunty’ stood.
“Yeah, well, Duke is managing,” he said. “I just don’t like to be barked at,” he stated.
Elizabeth had been making amends and covering for Axelle for two weeks now.
And it was exhausting.
Since Duke flew back, picked up Abby and Charlotte, and then returned, Axelle had been on a tear.
No one was safe.
When Johanna and Noah complained, she knew it was getting tense back there.
She was going to have to step in and say something before HR was called into the fray because of what had happened. They were now beyond keeping this on the DL.
Once Elizabeth got involved, Axelle would likely go nuclear.
It was difficult enough being a woman in the workplace, but when you were bitchy, that was the one thing singled out and that everyone focused on.
It could ruin a career.
She was trying to help Axelle, whether she believed that or not.
Yeah, she understood missing her family.
When she’d been on Oracle duty for the president, she was gone for months. It hadn’t been easy, and everyone was miserable, but it was her job.
Duke was just doing his, while trying to cut her a break. Axelle told him to come get the kids, and he did.
In her gut, she felt like this was about to go sideways, and she hoped it didn’t.
Duke deserved happiness, and so did Axelle. Only, she felt the tension between them for months before this.
Something was up.
She only hoped they could work it out.
“I’ll talk to her when I get a chance,” she stated. “I’m sorry she growled and was surly. I’ll handle it,” she added, putting one more thing on the plate to deal with later.
It was a big plate too.
Truth be told, Ian hated burdening her.
“I wouldn’t say anything if it wasn’t a problem. Noah said she was waiting for them in the bullpen, and when they weren’t there by eight, she started texting. Then, she tore them all a new one.”
She lifted a brow.
Yeah, no.
That shit wasn’t happening.
Her team was allowed to run however they needed, since most of them worked ninety-hour weeks. If they didn’t start until after eight, there was a reason. They likely worked late, taking care of a case.
No one should be busting their balls since she didn’t bust balls.
As far as she was concerned, they closed their cases, and that was the bottom line.
How they did it was up to them.
When they did it was up to them.
The last thing anyone needed was the boss so far up their asses when they yawned, they could see them.
PASS.
Axelle was now infringing on her territory, and they had a hands-off policy when it came to her division. That was her job to police them, and not Axelle’s.
No one browbeat the minions but her.
PERIOD.
“I’ll make time to speak to her as soon as I get a chance. What’s next?” she asked, as Ian continued to play office manager for her.
He slipped her a file and kept his voice low.
“We handled Riley Cunningham,” he said. “By we, I mean the FBI. He’s been arrested by the Scottish police, and their intelligence agency is treating it very seriously.”
Good.
They should.
The man tried to get someone offed.
That was insane.
Ian continued.
“Him threatening to kill Graham wasn’t amusing for them. You know how much Europe loves a rogue American with a weapon, even if it’s a knife. He’s all over the media there, and while the Americans look bad, again, he’s not having a good time there.”
Oh, she knew what he meant by that.
They’d wanted to not make it an international spectacle, but in all honesty, spectacle was her middle name. Riley besmirched her family, and tried to hurt Michael.
Saint Michael of the Blackhawks might be living in Scotland, but he was family.
Until.
Death.
She loved her some Archangels.
So, she hadn’t been playing when she pointed the dogs at Riley. All it took was a phone call to a friend of a friend in Europe, and the deed was done.
Riley was going to be made to understand the seriousness of his actions—one way or another.
“Okay, good to know. What else?”
He smiled.
That told her something was up.
“Uh-oh. What?”
Then, he kissed her on the forehead, making her look around like it was the end of the world as she knew it.
“Smart ass,” he said, laughing. “That’s for working so hard on my wedding, and trying to get it all done by Halloween. I love you, crazy lady.”
Oh, was that all?
Well, she liked making sure her friends knew she loved them too.
Now that it wasn’t bad, she laughed.
“I like chaos. I work better in it. Your wedding will be ready in time for you to sashay yourself down the aisle. I’m going to be going over a little earlier to check things out. You didn’t hear me say that. I want to keep it quiet.”
Ian lifted a brow.
Uh-oh.
He knew what that meant.
“Alone?”
She made one point clear.
“Michael, an Archangel, is living in the castle with a Black Watch soldier, his husband. What is going to happen to me? I’ll get haunted? I’ll decide I’m never coming back? That’s the more likely scenario.”
Okay, she had a point.
It was very valid too.
“Very well, but if you sneak away, Ivan is going to shit his pants,” he said. “He’s already researching chip implants.”
She snorted.
Only, before she could say anything, the com on her vest beeped.
“Oh, he’s going to do more than that,” he said over the com, talking in third person to annoy her. “He’s going to make someone cry.”
She laughed.
How could she not?
“You were coming with me, Toady. Calm down. I wanted to spend a romantic getaway in a haunted castle with you. Be still, my heart.”
There was laughter over the com, since he knew she’d rather fuck a rake than be romantic with him.
Honestly, yeah, him too.
Ian continued.
“All of the other things are good to go. Vivian is on top of everything. She’s like me but on steroids. I think I may need to up my game.”
She smiled.
Never did she think she’d have two Ians running the ship, but here she was. That was the one thing going in her favor.
“If you want it done better and right, hire a woman,” she teased, busting his ass.
Ian stared at her.
“I don’t know if you called me a girl, or you insulted me. I’m up in the air about this one. Your insults are usually more to the point.”
Yeah, she was aware.
Only, she was wearing down.
Getting up, she stretched, and needed a coffee to get her motivated to pull today off.
“Walk and talk,” she said. “I need caffeine. I did ten miles this morning, and I don’t need to be cranky for the rest of the day to anyone.”
Oh, he was well aware.
As they headed out, the first stop was the bullpen for her team. The Violent Crimes Unit, two-point-oh, had their own space. Inside, she found a few team members sitting there.
Corbin was having a cup of coffee, and Alex was on the phone, talking to someone.
“Yo,” she said, getting Corbin’s attention.
He grinned.
“Hey, boss. What’s up?”
She wished not her blood pressure, but here it was, higher than it should be.
Thanks, Axelle.
“Just checking in. How’s the case?” she asked.
He pushed the file toward her.
“Closed. Alex and I wrapped it last night. I just came in to escape my mother, and finish the paperwork. She’s on the ‘let’s explore our new city’ kick, and I’m not sure the Natives want her walking in the woods.”
She laughed.
“If she gets caught, just tell whoever it is that Callen is her best friend.”
Ian laughed.
“Did you just throw him under the bus?” he asked. “That feels like a trap.”
She nodded.
“He’s the liaison so, yeah. That’s his punishment for buying that haunted mansion-of-torment for me. He could have bought a normal house.”
No, he couldn’t.
And she knew it.