Salazar had his game face on, but it was clear that he was not happy about this assignment. From what Joshua could see, the agent was trying to appear as if the whole thing bored him. He wasn’t doing a great job.
The other… Agent Lobo… was a bit of a shock to Joshua, for two reasons. The first was that she was so young. He knew he was getting older, and there were moments where Had and Reggie, and to a lesser extent, Coop, made him feel it. But measured up against this one, he was feeling ancient.
He’d read her file, of course, since Agent Cooper couldn’t be trusted to have the situation under control. She was a prodigy. After graduating from high school at fourteen, she had whipped through undergraduate in two years at Princeton, no less. Her Masters and Doctorate she’d earned while working at the Bureau.
According to what he’d read, she was twenty now. She looked to be eighteen at the most. How was he supposed to take anything that came out of her mouth seriously?
The other part of the shock was something Joshua was trying to understand himself. It was an intangible sense of recognition that he couldn’t explain. He felt almost like he knew this girl, but they had obviously never met before. There had been that sense from her photo in the file, but it was much stronger in person.
She turned toward him and Reggie, and her face lit up in a smile of greeting.
The expression hit Joshua like a lightning bolt, and he stood stunned for a moment that seemed to stretch out into eternity. When she grinned, there was a dimple that appeared on her left cheek.
The agent sitting in front of him, her smile wilting on her face as he stood there struck dumb, was what his daughter would look like if she were still alive. The burst of recognition held him, a marble carving, in the entrance to the room.
He felt a tapping on his shoulder. Reggie.
“Hey, Joshua. Think I can get past here?” she asked, then seemed to see the look on his face. “You okay?”
Stirring himself, Joshua mumbled a response. As far as he could tell, it was something along the lines of, “Yeah. Fine.” But he couldn’t be positive.
Joshua crossed into the room, trying to decide where to sit. As he did so, Agent Lobo leaned over and, after giving Joshua a look to make sure it was okay, called out to Bella, patting her hands on her thighs.
“Here, girl,” she crooned. “Oh, you’re beautiful.”
Bella enthusiastically greeted her new friend, and Lobo scratched her behind the ears. That just happened to be her favorite spot to be scratched.
Salazar glanced down at the interaction, his face souring. “Can we get that mutt out of here? I’m allergic.”
Of course he was. “Sorry. She’s a service dog.”
Giving Joshua an assessing look, Salazar grunted. “You don’t look like you got a handicap to me. What? You an epileptic or something?”
“Or something,” he responded with a grin. “At the strangest moments I break out in bouts of drinking.”
“Whatever.”
Salazar turned away after one last glare at Bella. Joshua took his attention away from the BAU agent, refocusing on Agent Lobo.
Now that the initial shock was over, it was clear that the resemblance he’d seen had more to do with the dimple than anything else. She was Latina, for one thing. His daughter had been blonde, blue eyed and fair skinned. And while Agent Lobo was fairer than many Latinas, almost enough to be a Caucasian girl with a tan, her hair and eyes were both dark.
The girl wore a lot of makeup, more than was common in the BAU. It reminded Joshua of the Hispanic women back in New York. They had fallen into two categories, those who ran with the gangs and those who managed to stay out. The only external difference between them was the number of visible tattoos.
Agent Lobo’s lack of ink showed her to be part of the latter group.
But she did have the Latina eyebrow thing. Her natural brows had been plucked completely out, and in their place had been penciled in a sharp, dark line. It gave her face a surprised look that would take some getting used to.
Plus, there was the age thing. While the agent sitting in front of him was young enough to make him question his own eminent death, she was clearly older than what his daughter would have been, were she still alive.
The more he thought about it, the less she seemed like the daughter he ached for on a daily basis. But the resemblance on some level had been enough to make his heart pound and throat constrict. Even now he was glad of the chair he had found. Without it, there might have been an awkward fainting spell in his near future, and that didn’t seem like the best way to make a good impression.
Bella came back from her exchange with the new agent, giving Joshua a look that clearly said that he didn’t pet her enough and that he should up his game. She then curled up next to his leg, her usual spot.
He glanced over at Salazar. The agent was staring at him, his eyebrows arched in a question. Here was another reason not to show weakness. Salazar might resemble a bull in a china shop in terms of his interpersonal skills, but Joshua thought that his real ancestry was more reptilian in nature.
This was a snake in the grass. One with fangs and deadly venom.
There had been an awkward silence in the room that Joshua had just tuned in enough to realize was there, when Reggie stepped forward to shake Agent Lobo’s hand. She smiled at the younger agent.
“You’re Agent Lobo, right? I’m Reggie Black. Nice to meet you.”
“Same.” The girl seemed to be bursting to say something, which after a moment spilled out of her lips, seemingly in spite of herself. “I’m so excited to be on your team. You have no idea.” She had a very faint accent. Ghetto, but educated to the point that it was almost non-existent.
Reggie’s face registered surprise, and she turned to Joshua. By this point, he’d recovered enough to respond with his typical brand of sarcasm.
“That’s like getting excited for the all-you-can-eat at the Hometown Buffet.” The young woman’s face went blank, so he elaborated. “You start off thrilled at all the choices, but then realize that it’s all going to come out looking the same. Really fast. Like in the next five minutes.”
There was another pause, and then she seemed to get that he was joking. The smile reappeared, sending another bolt through Joshua, followed by a guffaw that caught him off guard.
There was nothing pretty about her laugh. It was energetic, from the gut, and seemed closely related to the bray of a donkey. It was also infectious in a way that Joshua couldn’t quite describe.
Both he and Reggie started to chuckle, but Joshua noticed that Salazar hadn’t joined in. If anything, he’d grown more closed off. Agent Lobo clamped a hand over her mouth, apparently trying without success to shut off her laughter. After a moment she regained control and spoke, her tone horrified.
“I’m sorry. That was mortifying.”
Reggie shook her head. “Are you kidding? The first time I met these guys, I was falling all over myself. I’m pretty sure I managed to insult the team leader within the first five minutes.”
Agent Lobo smiled her thanks at Reggie, the dimple piercing Joshua to the quick. He was going to have to learn to control this reaction, and fast.
Salazar, who had watched this interaction with varying degrees of disdain, stepped in at this point. He stood up, doing what he could to make himself appear taller. The man stood at about five foot nine-and-a-half, and seemed very aware of that fact.
“Well, now it’s not Agent Cooper you have to worry about.”
Joshua turned an eye on the arrogant agent. “Oh?” he said, his tone carefully casual. “And why’s that?”
The man seemed taken aback by that. “You haven’t heard? I’m taking over the investigation.”
“Um, no, that’s not true,” Reggie said before Joshua could say anything in response. “At best, you are co-leaders.”
“I’m the senior agent,” Salazar answered, bristling.
“Well, my understanding from what I read was that you were
coming in as an advisor to the case.”
“Yeah. Advisor. Which means I’m in charge.” He said the words like they should be obvious to anyone of even the smallest modicum of intelligence.
At that moment, Agent Cooper walked in. Had followed right on her heels, his eyes downcast.
This was about to get really interesting, really fast.
The shit was poised and ready to hit the proverbial fan.
CHAPTER 8
Sariah stepped into the conference room. It felt a little bit like walking off a plane in Miami, Florida. One second you’re on an air-conditioned plane, cool and dry. The next instant, you’re sweating so profusely, it feels like you’ve stepped into a shower.
The tension was thick in the air, most of it centered around Salazar, of course, and Reggie. The young officer was standing opposite the lean and muscular agent, and her jaw was thrust out at an angle Sariah knew well. Reggie was hostile. And stubborn.
It wasn’t a good combination. Especially right now.
Sariah had hoped that this meeting could be a straightforward thing, where everyone got to meet each other and they finished up with tasks assigned. Separately. Where they all got to go their individual ways, not to meet up again until the next awkward and uncomfortable session.
Maybe it would’ve been a good idea to show up to this thing early.
But she had avoided doing that for one important reason. A good leader did that. Greeted all members of the team when they entered. Made sure everyone was comfortable. Took care of things.
She wasn’t that person.
In retrospect, maybe she should have realized that they’d all be talking about her by the time she arrived, making her entrance that much more noticeable. She’d heard Salazar’s challenge to her authority right before she’d walked in.
The guy was full of shit, and he had to know it. But on some level he must sense that there was something up, or he wouldn’t be here. In his Cro-Magnon mind, the fact that he, a senior agent, had been assigned to this team was a clear indication that he was supposed to take over. No matter what his conversation with Tanner had consisted of.
Sariah knew what Agent Tanner had told him. Tanner, for all of his rule-keeping rectitude, trusted her, for some ungodly reason. He would never lie to her.
The word he had given her was that Salazar was there as backup. He wasn’t to take control unless it was necessary, and that she was to report any attempt on his part to do so without just cause.
He was already stepping over the boundaries set.
Thing was, she didn’t care.
There was a part of her that did, sure. The old, feisty, feminist side of her that couldn’t stand the idea of a prick like Salazar taking over her team, the one she had built up from nothing.
And in a perfect world, it would be Joshua that would step up. But he had demonstrated over and over that he wanted her in the lead position. Well, he had his chance, and Salazar was here now, so…
Time to let go, and watch the filth circle around the drain.
Sariah moved from where she had planted herself just inside the doorway, making her way to a chair on the opposite side of where Salazar was standing, facing off with Reggie. When the young woman turned to see that Sariah had entered, her face brightened and she turned a smug look back at Salazar.
Feeling a stab of guilt, Sariah took her seat, doing her best to avoid eye contact with everyone in the room. She didn’t want Reggie to stick up for her. She didn’t want anyone to stick up for her.
“Well, Agent Cooper, nice of you to show up,” Salazar drawled.
Agent Lobo stood up and crossed over to where Sariah was sitting. She extended a hand, her face alive and expectant. The girl had painted on her eyebrows, which accentuated her expression and turned it almost manic.
“Agent Cooper? I’m Agent Lobo. It’s such a pleasure to finally meet you.”
Sariah took the hand proffered out of a sense of social pressure, but the grip she gave was lackluster at best. The young girl’s smile wavered a bit, but she plowed on.
“I requested your team.”
That got Sariah’s attention, as well as that of the rest of the people in the room. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see each member of the team reacting in their own way, the specific reactions a reflection of the individual.
Had, who still hadn’t left the doorway, brightened for a moment at the revelation and then retreated back to his introverted grief. Reggie seemed pleasantly surprised. Joshua was skeptical, or that could have just been his grumpy face.
Salazar’s expression was the most telling. It was a combination of violent disdain or mockery with something else Sariah couldn’t identify. If she didn’t know him as well as she did, she might have said that it was almost a wistful yearning.
That couldn’t be right.
“Okay, now that everyone’s here, and our youngest member has demonstrated her complete lack of judgment, let’s get started.” Salazar turned toward the empty whiteboard in front of them, its blank surface awaiting their input.
“Point of order,” Joshua drawled, reaching his arm up. He made the gesture look like it was something in between a student asking a question in class and a lazy animalistic stretch. He didn’t wait for anyone to acknowledge him before he continued.
“I’m pretty sure that you’re not in charge, Agent Salazar. Sorry.”
Shit. She tried to catch Joshua’s eye to keep him from going any further, but he seemed to be avoiding her gaze. He had a fake smile plastered on his face.
Salazar’s face darkened. “What are you talking about? You heard what I just said.” He conspicuously didn’t look in Sariah’s direction.
“Oh, I heard you. It’s just that everything that was coming out of your mouth was complete and utter horseshit.”
Sariah felt her face color. What was Joshua doing? He had always been the one to tell her that Salazar wasn’t worth the trouble. Now he was calling him out in front of everyone. This was a problem.
Wanting to pull this weed out by the root, she stood and called out into the charged silence that stretched out after Joshua’s challenge. “I’m sorry for that, Agent Salazar.” She turned to face the former agent, whose jaw was set like a pit bull’s. He was locked in, ready to hold on to the death. “Joshua, can I speak to you out in the hall?”
“Ooo. I’m getting called to the principal’s office,” he said in a stage whisper. Both Reggie and Agent Lobo tried to suppress laughter as Joshua strutted across the room toward the door, after passing Bella off to Reggie to watch.
Sariah was appalled. Not only had he called Salazar out, he was now referring to Sariah as the principal. This was no accidental quip. He had made the reference with a purpose. And she had no doubt as to what that was.
As soon as they had exited the conference room, Sariah turned her full attention on Joshua. “What the hell was that?”
“What?” he asked, his expression puzzled. “Oh, you mean with Salazar? I was just making sure we all knew the score here.” His gaze wandered as he was speaking until it came to land on Sariah. “All of us.”
“Joshua, you were the one who told me not to give Salazar the time of day.”
“Yes,” he agreed, looking down at his nails, which he proceeded to clean with a nail from one of the fingers of his opposite hand. “Of course.”
“So, what’s the deal?”
“The deal is that before he was a minor irritant. His posturing couldn’t really do much to halt our investigation. He was irrelevant.”
Sariah shot back, “But in Austin--”
“In Austin,” he cut her off, “he was still a joke. It was clear that everyone hated him, and that it wouldn’t take much to get around his bureaucratic nastiness. All we’d need to do was pay a little attention to anyone he’d come into contact with.”
Sariah blew air out of her pursed lips. The problem here was that she could see Joshua’s point. She didn’t want to, but there it was.
“Still, don’t you think that the same approach could work here?”
“No.”
“No? Just no?” Sariah wasn’t sure if she wanted to peek inside the former agent’s head to see the way his mind worked, or if she just wanted to punch him.
“Uh… no, ma’am.”
Punch him. She definitely wanted to punch him.
“Why, Joshua? Why won’t it work here?”
Joshua grunted. “Because you can’t shit where you eat, and that’s basically Salazar’s MO. We need to find Humpty, and he’s going to make that more difficult.”
It was a role-reversal of the finest order. Joshua trying to convince her that pursuing Humpty was important. He must have seen it in her face, as he continued.
“You were the one that pulled me out, Coop. I can’t say I’m happy about it, but you were right to do it.”
Sariah sighed. “What is it you want from me?”
“You know what I want.”
“Well, you’re not going to get that. So what’s your plan B?”
Joshua ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t care about what’s going on with you at this point. I care about results. It’s all about catching Humpty.”
“Fine, but I’m not stepping in.”
There was a long tense moment as Joshua just stared at her. It appeared that he might want to strangle her, but he shook himself, and from what she could tell, the urge passed. He stepped in close.
“If you won’t lead, then at least look like you are.”
“What do you mean? Isn’t that pretty much the same thing?”
Joshua gave a grim chuckle with no mirth behind it. “That just proves you’ve never really had any idea what leadership is supposed to be.”
“Um. Kinda making my point for me, there, Joshy-boy.” Sariah turned to go back into the conference room, done with the conversation. Joshua grabbed her arm and spun her around. She wanted to react, to fight, but instead she just went limp, giving him a dead look.
He backed off, brushing an imaginary piece of lint off her shoulder. “Just… Look. Fine. Whatever. I’ll be in charge, okay? But you have to be the figurehead.”
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