“Technically, we’ll have access for the remainder of the month, but those opposed to his decision accused him of doin’ it for personal gain, so yeah. It’s a done deal.”
“Personal? Because we found his daughter,” Reese mused.
“Her and Lauren Tyler. Since she was a direct connection to the governor before she went missing, and our first official case, they argued that he was keepin’ the task force in his pocket.”
Probably didn’t matter that they’d made the decision to make that their first case. They hadn’t consulted with the governor when they had.
Reese studied Brantley’s face as a few dots connected. “That’s why you were talkin’ to Z and RT.”
Brantley exhaled and Reese could see his concern. Likely worried Reese would be angry that he’d been left out of the loop. And fine, maybe he was a little frustrated that Brantley hadn’t bothered to share this with him. After all, Brantley was the one who continued to claim Reese was his equal, not just another member of the team.
“That’s the part that isn’t past tense,” Brantley noted.
They paused while the waitress delivered their coffee, bringing a small metal canister of cream and a glass bowl with sugar and sugar substitute to go with it.
“Thanks,” Brantley told her before turning his attention back to Reese. “I’ve given it a lot of thought, and this last case … with Dante … it solidifies my decision. It’s best we do separate ourselves from the governor, take the team private. And yes, we’re gonna keep the task force together.”
Reese nodded, understanding. “Work for hire.”
“Yes.” Brantley exhaled again. “For the most part. But I wanted to design it so we can take pro bono cases when necessary. The most critical ones.”
“Missing kids,” Reese acknowledged.
Brantley nodded.
There was no denying the fact that Reese found he loved this man more because of little things like that.
“I didn’t know how to tell you. I was hopin’ to come up with a foolproof plan before I had to.”
“It’s your task force, I’m just—”
“Don’t even,” Brantley snapped. “You are notjustanything. This task force came about because of both of us. Not just me.”
Maybe, but that didn’t mean Reese had to be in a position of power. Truth was, he didn’t want to deal with all the politics and bullshit. He wanted to find missing people. He wanted to solve cases. And he wanted to partner with Brantley to do it, but he didn’t care about all the added responsibilities.
“Obviously you’ve come up with somethin’,” Reese said, redirecting to avoid an argument. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t’ve hired Holly and offered Luca a job.”
He watched as Brantley sipped his coffee, clearly preparing his response.
“Just spit it out,” he said softly. “Whatever you’ve decided to do, I’m on board.”
Brantley’s blue-gray eyes were wary when he looked at Reese. “We’ve got a meetin’ with Ryan Trexler and Hunter Kogan in the mornin’.”
“RT and Hunter? As in the heads of Sniper 1 Security?”
“Yes.”
“In Dallas?”
“They’re comin’ to us this time.”
Reese let the news tumble around in his gray matter.
“As much as I want to believe we could do this on our own,” Brantley explained, “I think we’d have more success if we were absorbed by a company with a reputation that can sustain us.”
“You’ve given this a lot of thought.”
“I want what’s best for everyone involved. You, me, the team. And I truly believe this is our calling. We’re good at what we do.”
