“You know how I feel about this shit.” Alec was even less concerned because he felt no loyalty to this place, despite having been born here. His lineage was Afro-Cuban and neither side of his family had any love for the government.
Which made his position in it as ironic as mine.
“Well, that needs to take a back seat to what we have going on. Y’all know the procedure: review what we have and form your own conclusions. I know you’re not going to play nice with anyone but yourselves but if you can come up with something at least try to share it with the class. I’m getting those talks about playing favorites again.”
“Talk? That shit should be confirmed by now. You can’t help that you favor the ones who actually get results. That’s just how business works.”
“Yeah, okay, that’s just how it works. I’ll make your life a living hell if one of these mediocre, white-bread bastards comes whining to me about some shit being unjust. I’ll make the months leading up to your retirement hell.” She was grinning but I knew she wasn’t playing.
“Noted. Solve this fast enough so that they don’t have time to complain. Roger that.”
She glanced between the two of us before shaking her head. Her annoyance was playful but I was sure she was tired of having to defend her decisions with us. Thankfully, she wouldn’t have that issue for much longer.
“If that’s what you heard then run with it. Shit, I might need to put in my papers if both of you are leaving.”
“You not gonna stay and fight the good fight, boss?” Alec put his arm around Cochran and she pushed him off her as she laughed.
“I’m a Black woman in the government. I’ve been fighting since I took my first breath. These people aren’t going to workme to death and then try to pin their fuck ups on me. No, thank you.”
“True. Guess if we’re all on the same page we gotta send you out with a flawless record then.”
She grinned before she stood up from where she’d been leaning against the conference table.
“I’m counting on it.”
“This is going to fuck things up.”
I felt like I sounded dramatic but the desire to voice how I was feeling overrode my usual need to stay silent. A fresh case was going to alter how I was moving and how quickly I could get out of my job.
“What you mean?”
Alec took the beer I’d extended to him over his shoulder and popped it open while he waited for me to continue. I walked around the edge of the large navy blue sectional that took up most of my great room. I was a simple man so besides art and my TV, there wasn’t much in here. My condo was in Georgetown, far enough away from work that I didn’t feel like I was chronically there but close enough so that my commute didn’t make me want to commit murder every morning. It was an older single-family mansion that had been subdivided years ago. My grandfather had purchased it and we had eventual plans to turn it back into a single-family residence but as it stood Iwas the only tenant. Several of my aliases along with those of my brothers were listed as tenants in the building but I occupied the penthouse condo. With the news of my impending retirement, I could start to restore the place to its original grandeur at the end of the year. I wanted a home with modern amenities but not the cookie-cutter shit that most people turned to when they purchased a historical property. The character that came with the house had been preserved even when it was subdivided so thankfully I wouldn’t have to add back the original details that made this place unique.
“I had the official word from Pappy that’s been voted on. They decided I can leave this bitch officially.”
“For real? That’s what’s up!” He popped me in the chest with the back of his hand as he smiled.
I could tell that Alec’s ass was genuinely happy for me despite the position it would put him in. At best, he would only be looking for another partner. At worst, he was going to end up in some bullshit getting stuck with some asshole we were going to have to kill. The last thing he needed was some bureaucrat getting too damn close to what he had going on and messing things up for either of our families. Maybe the change he had been searching for would happen now that I was leaving. I hated to leave Cochran without someone to watch her back and make her team shine. That was the only negative part of all of this.
“You say that.”
He looked up from his beer with confusion clouding his features. “Of course I say that.”
“You mean that shit though?”
“Hell yeah why wouldn’t I?”
The confusion had shifted to annoyance and something akin to his belief that I’d insulted him.
“Because it means you’re gonna be flying solo. You ain’t even think about that did you? We joked about it in Cochran’s officebut me stepping back means you’ll be out here with no one on your six.”
“I mean yeah but I can’t hate on a friend that gets to live his dreams. The fuck kindapendejowould that make me? Besides, we haven’t always worked together. I survived without your ass before.”
I took a swig of my beer smiling to myself. “Barely, muthafucker.”
“Shut up. Besides, I work better alone anyway.”
“Understood.”
