Taylor held up a hand. “I am.”
“No shit?”
Matt rolled his eyes. “She’s not getting fired.”
Monroe’s gaze pinged from Taylor to Grey. “What’d you do?”
“We’re now on the Jarvis case.”
“No shit?”
Did Monroe not have any other trite responses? “Dude, you gotta come up with something more original.”
“Fuck off, Stephens.”
“Children,” Taylor said, “can we focus on my disintegrating career?”
“Technically,” Matt said, “I think our friend here did you a huge large. If this case goes bust, the Justice Team—and not you—are on the hook for it. If we find Baby Jarvis, the Justice Team”—he looked at Grey—“I assume, will give you proper credit.”
Grey nodded. “Bingo. You sure you don’t want to come work for me?”
“I’m good where I am. Thanks.”
Waving her arms, Taylor pulled their attentions back to her. “I can’t believe you did this. Grey, if we blow it, you’ll be in the fryer.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time. Besides, we don’t exist, remember? If we do, I’ll get an ass-whipping from my boss, he’ll do what needs to be done to save face inside the Hoover building, and we all get back to work.”
“You seem pretty confident of that.”
“Taylor, this isn’t my first rodeo. I don’t care what my superiors say, they like that I piss people off. This team gets shit done when no one else can. We handle the cases the Bureau is afraid to touch. That’s what I’m confident of. Now, are you going to shut up and help me solve this case or do I have to throw you out of here?”
Matt cleared his throat. “She’s going to help you solve this case.”
“But… I already had my team on it. Now I won’t have them, and—”
“Shut up, Taylor,” Monroe said. “Quit being such a tightass and roll with it. For the first time in your career, you get to go rogue. This is the fun part.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Iwasgoing rogue. Why do you think I got suspended?”
“Getting suspended is for pussies. You’re not really rogue until you get fired.”
For once, Matt and Mitch actually agreed on something. Matt lifted one hand and high-fived his archenemy. “Why is it we don’t like each other?”
Monroe shrugged. “Hell if I know.”
Good enough. Matt turned back to Taylor. “We’ve got this. If you’re not comfortable with the Justice Team angle, ride shotgun with me. You can act as a private citizen now and my firm has asked for your expert opinion on a case we are independently working. No feds, no Justice Team. Just you and me.”
“It’s not…”
“What?”
Wherever her thoughts led, she shook it off. “Nothing. I’m just…grateful.” She reached for Matt’s hand and squeezed it. Their eyes held for a few long seconds until Monroe cleared his throat.
“Knew it,” he said to Grey. “She’s banging him. After I told her not to. Unbelievable.”
Taylor rolled her eyes. “Shut it, Mitch.” Still holding Matt’s hand, she turned to Grey. “Thank you. You have your own reasons for doing this, but I also know you partially did it for me. You know what this case means to me and I appreciate what you did.”
“It’s all good,” he said. “But now we need to find this baby.”
