When he returned to the main area, he saw Reese was walking around the new desk arrangement. Brantley had no idea what he could possibly be looking for, but he figured the man had some sort of motivation.
The door opened, and more people strolled in, filling the desks, their conversations beginning to energize the space. He decided not to intrude, so he told Reese he had things to do and headed over to his office in the house.
It was true, he did have things to do. Turned out, working for a large corporation like Sniper 1 resulted in paperwork and shit Brantley could’ve done without. However, he was trying to remain in RT’s good graces because he knew there would come a time when his boss would frown on his decisions, so he was starting the give-and-take early.
After all, perception was key.
*
By midmorning, Reese was grateful for theten-mile run and the endorphins that heated round in the shower produced. It had gone a long way to ensuring he didn’t lose his temper, something that would’ve surely happened when he walked into the barn to find Allison and Becs still bitching about their seating arrangement.
Funny thing was, they both wanted the same thing, but they couldn’t stop talking long enough to realize it. Instead, they were snapping back and forth, both attempting to make their point at the top of their lungs, neither of them backing down.
Since they’d aligned the teams so that Allison and Becs would be working together, he figured now was a good time to switch things up. At least until they got the lay of the land and learned to deal with one another rather than shout and scold, something that was disrupting the workflow for everyone.
He noticed Trey and Holly had their heads together in the corner, reviewing the cold case Trey had been working on for the past few weeks. Charlie had taken to hiding out upstairs with JJ and Elana, reviewing the details of some report JJ was building for their weekly meeting. Baz and Luca had escaped completely, settling into Reese’s office over in the house to discuss the social media investigation. And Slade was doing his best to be invisible while working in the conference room with the door shut.
That left Allison and Becs and this stupid fucking argument. Rather than let it go on all damn day, which no doubt it would, Reese walked over to the women, cleared his throat.
Allison and Becs immediately shut up, heads jerking toward him.
He waited patiently, cocking an eyebrow to see if they wanted to explain.
“It’s not what it looks like,” Allison said quickly.
Becs’s eyebrows lifted, her disbelief evident.
It was exactly what it looked like, Reese knew.
“I’m sorry,” Becs said. “We’re—”
“I’m switchin’ up the teams,” Reese announced. “Becs, you’ll move to work with Trey and Evan startin’ next week when Evan comes on board. I’ll have Darius work with Charlie and Deck.” He looked at the conference room, then back to Allison. “Jay will work with you and Slade.”
“You don’t have—”
He cut Allison off. “Already done. Trust me when I say, Brantley won’t hesitate to fire every last damn one of you.” He pinned a hard stare at Allison before she opened her mouth. “And he can, I assure you. He’s got the full support of his management team.”
She clamped her mouth shut, but he could tell she still wanted to argue.
“So what do you say we get on with it?”
When he looked at Becs, she nodded. “Yes, sir. Of course.”
Grateful no one had anything more to add, Reese headed for the door. He caught sight of JJ out of the corner of his eye. She was standing at the top of the stairs. When their eyes met, she gave one slight nod, clearly in agreement.
He only hoped Brantley didn’t hear about this. Otherwise…
Later that afternoon, after Reese had convinced Brantley to go with him to pick up some office supplies JJ had ordered, Reese considered talking Brantley into a late lunch/early dinner just so they could avoid going back to the barn for a while. He had no idea how things were going now, but he had no desire to find out. As much as he wanted this task force to succeed, he had to admit it was significantly easier when it was smaller.
“What’s on your mind, Tavoularis?”
Reese grinned. Why he found it amusing that Brantley called him that, he had no idea.
“Nothin’.”
“I heard about the showdown at the OK Corral this mornin’.”
Of course he had.
