“Are you okay?”
It seemed like an easy question, but it took her friend and boss a few extra seconds to answer.
“Sure, why?” she asked.
Elizabeth wasn’t going into the Duke area. His marriage was his domain, but her team was not the whipping boys. She had to police that part of this.
Elizabeth went there.
“Because I’ve gotten complaints about you.”
It was direct and to the point.
Oh, Ethan cringed.
This was about to be woman-on-woman violence, and Axelle wouldn’t win it.
Call it a hunch.
“I’m sorry, what?” Axelle asked.
Elizabeth went there.
“My team said you’re up in their business, busting balls, being douchey, and making them miserable. What’s going on? Why are you riding ass at eight in the morning when my people answer to me?”
There was a heavy pause, and the tension…oh, it was thick. Like pea soup thick.
“I’m sorry, but when agents aren’t working when they’re supposed to be working, I get to make a comment. It’s kind of my domain as I run this shit show.”
She stopped her.
“Yes, you do run the whole shit show. You get to ride roughshod over all the other agents. You know, Vice, the guns unit, the children’s unit, the sexual crimes unit. The Violent Crimes unit is mine, and that’s my circus and my monkeys. I run it, and for the record, Ax, it’s hands off.”
There was another pause.
Oh, and this could go a myriad of ways.
Finally, Axelle went there.
“I’m your boss.”
She shut that shit down.
“And they areMY UNIT. Most of them work ninety-hour weeks. They work until three in the morning, and yeah, they don’t make it in for eight. They need to sleep to be able to do their jobs. They chase killers, not parking violations. I’m going to ask nicely that you back off of them, and let me run my division. You don’t see me popping up in the Vice unit to ask them why they weren’t at their desk at eight after pulling a night until three.”
Oh, Ethan cringed even more.
This was about to blow.
He could hear it.
The tension was palpable.
“I can’t believe you’re saying this to me,” Axelle said. “I run the FBI.”
She shut that shit down.
“WE RUNthe FBI. It’s a partnership, and when you’re being a cuntasaurus to my team, that makes more work for me. I then have to calm them down, taking away from my job here. I get that you’re angsty. I get that you’re angry about something, but my people are good at what they do. Backoff. Respectfully, of course.”
