“Will you continue those?” RT asked, glancing between them.
“I’d like to lend a hand to neighboring departments if we’ve got the ability to do so.”
“So how many are you thinkin’ and how much ground are you coverin’?” RT lowered himself into one of the chairs, propped an ankle on a knee, and sipped his coffee.
“I’d say a full team would be roughly ten, maybe twelve. That includes the electronics experts and support personnel.”
“Ten or twelve per region?” RT clarified.
Reese looked at Brantley, then back to RT as though confused by the question. “Yeah, I guess. Are you lookin’ to create more teams?”
“I’m not.” RT motioned toward them. “But I figured y’all are.”
Brantley hadn’t discussed this with anyone, including RT. It had been mentioned, but only once. Something about creating these teams in a few major cities across the US.
“Eventually,” Brantley noted.
“From experience,” RT continued, “I can tell you it’d be wise to keep your electronics and support teams in one place and send field agents where they’re most needed as you grow. Less on overhead that way.”
“We’re willin’ to do whatever you need us to do,” Brantley told RT. “Our only objective is to remain useful to those who need our services.”
RT looked at Hunter, the men clearly having a silent conversation. When Hunter nodded, RT turned a wide grin on him and Reese.
“I’m not gonna pretend we have to get into the minutia to move forward. From the minute you showed interest, we were on board.” He chuckled. “In fact, it took me all of three minutes to present it to the board and get one-hundred-percent buy-in.”
Brantley stared like an idiot. He hadn’t been sure what to expect, but having spent his entire career working for the government, where the wheels turned slowly when it came to decision-making, he damn sure hadn’t anticipated a full-on welcome by the end of this meeting, much less just half an hour in.
“Seriously,” Hunter tacked on. “We’ve taken our fair share of missing-persons cases over the years, but we’ve never had the manpower to dedicate full teams to it. However, there is one caveat.”
Of course there was.
Brantley waited patiently for the bad news.
“Man, don’t look like someone punted you in the balls. It’s not that bad,” RT said with a choked laugh.
“In my experience, it usually is,” he admitted.
Hunter glanced between them, his gaze landing on Brantley when he said, “We’re aware you’re both accustomed to bein’ boots-on-the-ground leaders”—Hunter held up a hand, thwarting Brantley’s prepared argument—“which you will remain.” He exhaled with a smile. “However, you’ll also be considered executive management within our infrastructure. With that comes a few additional responsibilities. Financials, sales, whatnot. But you’ll be assigned a personal assistant and a bookkeeper to deal with your office work. If the need arises, we can get you a spot for an office manager, as well. A complete clerical staff’ll free up your team, allowing them to dedicate one hundred percent of their time to the cases.”
Brantley knew JJ would be pleased with that.
“The assistant I just hired…” Brantley glanced between RT and Hunter. “If it’s all the same to you, we’d like to utilize her.”
“Hire whoever you see fit. You will maintain operational control.” RT got to his feet. “But what Hunter’s leavin’ out is the other executive responsibilities. You’d be required to show up a couple of times a month for meetings, keep the board and the other teams up to date on what you’re focused on and how you’re spendin’ your money. As well as the paying clients you’re accumulatin’.”
“Payin’ clients? The ones we help don’t usually need our services again.”
“If they’re lucky, that’s true. But they’re not the clients we’re lookin’ to deal with. However, we provide myriad services.”
Brantley nodded, understanding.
“As for spendin’, we’ve got a relatively foolproof budgeting system, which we’ll go over so you know where your funds are allocated.” RT motioned to the barn. “And if you’re in agreement, we’d like to rent some space for some of our agents.”
Brantley glanced at Reese, looking for confirmation he was in agreement with any or all of it.
“We can move those funds around in the budget,” Reese said, which Brantley took as full agreement.
RT pulled out his phone, tapped something on it. A second later, Brantley’s phone chimed, as did Reese’s.
