Gabe was honest.
“Are you going to get nasty when I leapfrog her over you?” he asked. “Or can you play nice?”
She recalled what Kate did for her daughter, and how hard she’d worked to get justice for all of the girls like Willa. Thattook balls of steel to face down perverts like the Senators, and she’d done it with power and grace.
That told her all she needed to know about the woman.
She.
Was.
Amazing.
“I like her. I’ve worked with her. I’m good,” she said, not mincing words.
Finally.
A transition that didn’t raise hell.
“I’ll have my team start vetting her, and if she agrees, we’ll give it to her. I have to wait until Axelle gives me her notice. I don’t want the blowback from the Red Queen getting bitchy, even though she’s bailing to go back to the CIA.”
She laughed at the vetting part.
“Yeah, they do such a good job of that, Baldy. Let them vet a few people for me, too. I don’t have enough of a clusterfuck on my hands.”
He knew what she was talking about.
“Don’t be a smartass. You stole Ian Patterson away from me due to that vetting, and you got damn lucky. I want him back.”
Yeah, that still wasn’t happening.
Not on her watch.
“You got Tiffany out of it, and she’s like a female Ian. You can stop your bitching.”
Gabe snorted.
That was true.
“As I was saying, I’ll start the process, and if Axelle does leave, it’s handled. If she doesn’t leave, I’m firing her. I don’t like sneaky-ass people who get jobs behind my back,” he said testily.
She slowed his roll by amusing him.
“I’m taking a job with another agency. Fire me. I’m going to sign up with the ATF so I can get my sons off the hook later.”
He laughed.
“And let you be happy? Fuck no. You’re a lifer, and I’m going to ride that misery to the end of my days. I’ve already warned everyone not to hire you.”
She was amused.
Her husbands…
Not so much.
Oh, and for a plethora of reasons.
Only, this was how she and Gabe joked. She knew he meant well.
