“I appreciate that.”
“You rub a lot of people the wrong way, but you get the job done. Almost got yourself killed a few times, but I envy you.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because you really are a rebel. You follow your gut, no matter what. You’ll need to swing by HR, but I can start the process now.” Calvin got busy on his computer. After a few seconds, he blurted, “What the hell? Your internal file is gone.”
“What do you meangone?” Rebel asked, feigning surprise.
His boss turned the monitor toward Rebel. “Every damn thing, except your name, has been redacted. Did you already resign?”
“You’re hearing ‘bout it first.” Rebel extended his hand. “Thanks for everything, Calvin. It’s been a pleasure working with you.”
His boss dragged his attention from the screen. On auto-pilot, he stood, shook Rebel’s hand. “I gotta walk you out.”
“I got this. You stay, figure out what happened to my file.” As Rebel made his way toward the elevator, he bit back a smile.
He left, jumped into his SUV, drove to Tysons.
Thirty minutes later, he sailed into ALPHA. On the way to his meeting, he grabbed a cup of coffee. Then, on to the conference room. A few minutes later, Slash sauntered in, shut the door.
The last time he’d worked with her, she had purple hair. Today, her long, silver hair flowed down her back. She wore a black shirt, black leather jacket, torn jeans.
He stood, extended his arm. She laughed, pulled him in for a hug.
“We’re way past formalities.” She sat. “How you been? How’s your family? Mom doing better?”
He and Slash had worked together at the Bureau. Close friends who had each other’s backs. They had a running joke that they were the same person, different genders.
“Been good. Fam’s fine. How ‘bout you?”
“Channeling my inner rebel, every chance I get.” She shot him a smarmy smile. “What brings you by? Do you need me to work a case with you?”
“You can do that?” he asked.
She snort-laughed. “As long as I do my job, don’t get killed, and don’t tell my boss every damn thing, I can do whatever the hell I want.”
“You do know, Cooper’s one of my closest friends.”
“Look, he’s not like us,” she said. “Hefollowsthe rules. We don’t give a fuck about ‘em.”
He chuckled. Slash had no filters.
“I’m building a rescue team, and I want you in it,” he said.
Confusion flashed in her eyes. “Where?”
“Right here. I’m with ALPHA now.”
She grinned. “Finally. Welcome, babe.”
“You’d still work your cases, but you’d be training with me and my team.”
“Who knows about this?”
“Only the people in the group, so I can’t go into deets unless you accept.”
“Tell me about the rescues.”
