“My home and life are here. You’re perfect for the job.” Julian sighed.
“What’s wrong?” Kip crunched his brows.
“I was wondering. Tag broke ties with SDPD. It’s a different world in policing. But he doesn’t want to work for our folks or me. And he misses N’awlins. Do you have…” Julian asked.
“Before we go further, I do not do well with secrets. Kieran’s keeping this branch a secret got me in this chair.” Everyone laughed. “Zayne is Zach’s brother. He’s qualified for the job. No ulterior motives. And Tag is Julian’s brother. He has years of experience. Nora is his fiancée. A little Dupart will be here in March. Gossip is not appreciated.”
The group made their way around the table to Kip’s two most senior staff.
“I’m Tobey O’Mara, former DEVGRU, former Zulu Team leader and now Assistant Executive in Charge of Operations for the New Orleans branch. Boss, I need to thank you for your trust in me.”
Kip nodded. “It goes two ways.”
“Hi, everyone, I’m Mia Donnelly. I used to work for the Agency. Then I was XO to Tony Olivetti.” She shook her head. Tony, head of the San Diego branch, died in the line of duty. “I was in charge of operations and deployment for DC. To come here, I left my position as XO to Ian Chase, and I will be working with Tobey as Assistant Executive in Charge of Communications.
“And I’m last up. I’m Josh Stone, former Seal Team 1, former head of Bravo Team and now First Deputy and XO in charge of Mr. Brennan.” The group laughed.
Kip clapped. “Are you ready to run away yet?”
A knock on the door interrupted the meeting as Kyle Cooper and Rich Parry rejoined them. “For the newbies, this is Kyle Cooper, licensing, and Rich Parry, communications. Both are part of the executive board.”
“So, Zayne, what did Kip decide to call the Eagle’s Talon teams here—Kip’s Pinchers?”
Kip swatted Kyle upside the head. “For those of you who didn’t hear about the origin of the joke: Mrs. Bremen, Troy’s mom, misunderstood Troy when he introduced me as a pinch hitter. She called me the best pincher.” His team laughed.
“Okay, are we done yet? Can I get on with my meeting before Hunt needs to treat everyone for squished bottoms? I graduated from the Naval Academy with a degree in engineering and went on to serve under Ian Chase on Seal Team 3, later becoming one of the founders of Chase Security. My management style is this: I believe in collaborative leadership. Power is coercive. That said, I’m responsible for all decisions and will share praise and take blame.
“I have chosen you so that this place can run without any one of us. Ian and Kieran both taught the executive board this lesson. The success of our branch will happen by all of us pushing forward together. If we turn off the road every time we hit a glitch, we won’t get anywhere. We push until we get traction.
“I believe strongly in building our future together. I want to hear from you. I will make myself available to you, which brings me to my next point. I can easily tell you the issues. So can you. We are focusing on thewho. Give a specific task to a specific person. Keep track of assigned projects. In time, we will learn about each other’s strengths and weaknesses. I plan on holding staff events. We will build trust.
“And, finally, foresight is important. We cannot burrow in our offices. We will have a morning meeting and frequent individual meetings—all because catastrophe is always imminent.
In our case, Hurricane Greta is barreling toward us, now a Category 3 but due to pick up energy by the time it makes landfall.
“Everyone take fifteen minutes and come back. Time to make our contingency plans.” Kip rubbed his eyes.
“You did great,” Kyle said.
“Thanks. I have executive secretary interviews and then a meeting in tech. What’s your AM plan?” Kip asked his friends.
“I’ll grab Mia and O’Mara, and we’ll make a communications plan. The positive, your only ops will involve making sure the personnel here are alright and protecting the hospital, nursing home and women’s center,” Rich said. “DC and Denver will oversee all missions until we are up and running.”
“I won’t have a Katrina situation—especially at the health facilities. As soon as we are done here, I’m calling Kieran. We need to see if we can move up the closing,” Kip worried. “Do we have enough staff?”
Kyle frowned. “Negative. My team did a staffing analysis. The Sommerstones are running their facilities at a fifteen to twenty percent deficit before sick calls, which, according to our insiders, are not replaced. Historically, when a hurricane hits, day one staff is a five percent call-in above normal. And it worsens each day out, especially if the storm wreaks havoc with power.”
“Do we know the situation in each building?” Kip typed into his tablet.
“Only what’s on paper. Not reality.” Kyle loosened his tie.
“Where do we stand on personnel wanting to transfer to us?” Kip asked.
“As of 1800 hours, all security operators requesting transfer will be here. All have concealed carry permits thanks to reciprocity. I completed all our agency and licensing requirements. Belle Chasse is letting us use their range until ours in Slidell is completed.
“As of 0700, janitorial, maintenance, secretarial, HR, billing, IT and technical analysis divisions will have all required personnel,” Kyle added.
Hunt returned with a cup of coffee. “Did you tell him yet?”
