Tuesday November 24th 9:03 A.M. Manhattan
Tenth Avenue – DEA Offices
Kelli was led to a large conference room by an Agent she had never met, where she was politely told to wait. There was no one else in the room, and when she asked about Agent Larsen, the man directed her to sit down and left.
She had called Larsen earlier in an attempt to find out what this was about, but he had skirted the issue and reminded her to bring everything she had on her current case. She could only guess what he wanted and why he was being so secretive.
As she started to stand, the conference room door opened and Larsen walked in, followed by three other Agents, one of which was the man that had escorted her to this room.
“Good morning, Detective. This is Agent Reyes, Agent Thompson, and Agent Delgado,” Larsen said as he took a seat at the head of the table, the other Agents taking seats opposite from Kelli. “I know you’re wondering why I had you come down this morning.”
“It had crossed my mind. So, are you going to fill me in?”
“Like I told you yesterday, I had a meeting at 1PP. I’m putting a Joint Task Force together, and I want you on it.”
“You’re going after Garcia, aren’t you?”
He smiled and nodded. “Correct, and I couldn’t think of anyone that’s more qualified. So, what do you say? You in?”
“Like you have to ask. I take it you’ve already cleared this with the brass, or else you wouldn’t be asking.”
“Actually, it was a tough sale. You’ve got a reputation for being a loose cannon, but I convinced them that I needed you. You and Garcia have a history, and once I laid out the facts on this case, they gave in.”
Kelli looked at him, one eyebrow arched. “All of the facts?”
“Well, I may have omitted a few minor details,” he said and grinned.
“Just the minor ones, huh?” She nodded and smiled. “So what’s the plan?”
“Well, first, I need your files. I’ll have copies made and give you back the originals. Then we’ll meet with the rest of the Task Force and go over the game plan.”
Kelli looked at the other agents, then back to Larsen. “I thought this was the Task Force.”
“No, this is just my team. I’ve got two FBI Agents, as well as two NYPD Narcotics Detectives that will be joining us this afternoon.”
Kelli felt her stomach twist and she squirmed in her seat. “Who did you get from Narcotics?”
Larsen flipped to a page in his notebook. “Javier Vasquez and Dan Davis. Why?”
Kelli felt the blood run from her face and her stomach knot up. “There might be a problem. Dan Davis and I have, I guess you could call it, history.”
Larsen looked at her and frowned. “I don’t need any problems, Detective. If the two of you can’t work together, I need to know now. What kind of history?”
“Well, it’s complicated. Dan and I dated for a while after my divorce, and apparently, he still has feelings for me. The thing is, I’m back with my ex now. I met with Dan the other day and told him, in no uncertain terms, that there is no way we are getting back together.”
Larsen closed his eyes and shook his head. “Great, that’s all I need. Do you think the two of you can act like professionals and just do your job?”
“I know I can, but I can’t speak for Dan. When I told him that the other day, he didn’t take it too well.”
Larsen took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay, I’m going to keep the team as it is, but only because I’ve already got time invested. I’ll pull him aside this afternoon and talk to him, see where he stands.”
“I don’t think there’s anything to worry about, it might be rough at first, but Dan is a professional.”
“You’d better be right, because I need both of you on this, and I need you to be focused. This is not going to be an easy job, and I can’t afford to have any member of my team off their game. Got it?”
“Yeah, I got it. I’m sure it won’t be an issue. He wants Garcia almost as much as I do.”
“Well, that’s one thing we all have in common. We all want to see this son of a bitch out of business.”
Kelli nodded. You may want him out of business. I just want the son of a bitch dead.
