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“I can make it so you have to sit down. A bullet to the knee is very painful.”
She hated to do it, because it put her at a disadvantage. She was already shorter than Addie, but Tamilya knew sitting behind the desk would trap her. Still, she didn’t see a way out of it.
She sat.
“What a good little agent,” she said, the resentment in her voice growing more prominent with each word she said. “Let me tell you a little story. See, there was a girl who grew up with a father in the FBI.”
Great, now she was treating her like a child. Tamilya didn’t need a damned story. What she needed was the truth. She doubted she would get that from Addie. Tamilya had known Addie had kind of a warped view of how the FBI should work for her. As a legacy, she felt she should get special treatment. But Tamilya had no idea she was this bent.
“And when she graduated at the top of her class at Columbia, she decided to go into the FBI. Being a lawyer seemed so fucking boring. So, she went to Quantico and, once again, she graduated at the top of her class. Actually, I was number five. That was a feat for a man, but damned near impossible for a woman. You think you had it bad? Try being in a class that only had three other women, two of whom dropped out because of the bullying.”
Tamilya knew she needed to find common ground. They both had suffered because of the patriarchy in law enforcement.
She opened her mouth, but Addie stopped her by waving the gun.
“My story,” she muttered, sounding like a toddler who hadn’t had her nap. Only, she was a toddler holding a gun who wanted to kill anyone in her way. Mainly Tamilya. She could care less who got hurt in the process.
“I was just going to ask if you could put the bomb down.”
Addie looked down at her hand as if she had forgotten it was there. “No. I think I’ll hold onto it.” She raised her head and locked her gaze on Tamilya’s. The woman was bonkers, but she was deadly and damned smart. She knew showing Addie any fear would only get her off. She just hoped she masked the panic rising up in her right now.
“Now, where was I?”
“Bullying?”
“Ah, yes. There were threats, verbal and physical.”
That part of the story was definitely true. Tamilya knew from her own experience it wasn’t easy for a woman, but Addie went through the program twenty years earlier.
“Did you report it?”
She rolled her eyes. “No. I knew that nothing was going to happen. We both know that at that time, reporting abuse of that sort would ruin my career. Besides, I talked to my father about it.”
Addie’s father and grandfather had both worked for the FBI. Tamilya had heard the stories of their bravery, but she had also heard the whispers about Addie’s father. He had been a bastard of a supervisor against anyone at the Bureau who wasn’t white…and male.
“Yeah, I can see you know how that went. My father told me to stop being a lazy whore and earn my way into the FBI just like the men. From that moment on, I knew I was by myself.”
Addie had no sisters or brothers, so she had been his only child. He had left her to be abused and attacked because of her sex. Being his daughter would make her more of a target too.
“And you did well.”
She snorted. “Are you kidding me? If I were a man, I would be higher up in the organization.”
Tamilya doubted that. Addie had been mercenary in her work, and she had definitely gotten on the bad side of those in charge. At the time Tamilya had worked for her, she hadn’t seen it. Or maybe, she just saw it as both of them against the others. They were the ones left out to dry over the Virginia Star bombing. But Tamilya had never been someone to knock heads. She had worked with others, made her way through the ranks until she landed in Addie’s division.
“Once I started working, not much changed. I had a few bosses here and there that were decent, but for the most part, they were a bunch of bastards.”
Tamilya nodded as if understanding. There was a good chance that Addie was telling the truth. There was also a chance that she was clinically insane, so everything was distorted. If she kept her talking, there might be a way she could gain access to her desk drawer where she locked her weapon. The key was in her front right pocket. She just needed to keep Addie talking.
“They didn’t see the value of my hard work. Do you know how long it took me to get to head the terrorism division?”
“Twenty years.”
She snorted. “Of course, you did know that. Twenty years! I had fellow classmates who had fucked up on the job and got ahead faster. All because they were men.”
Again, Tamilya nodded because she was sure it was true. There were still issues on every level of law enforcement when it came to women. Back then it didn’t matter how good a woman was, it was next to impossible to get ahead. A woman could be the best agent in the group, but thanks to her vagina, she would be passed over.
“And then there was you.”
