“In a Federal capacity?” he asked, hoping the hell not. What he wanted was for this piece of shit to bleed.
She said nothing.
“Okay. Good. I’m thrilled to hear that he’s not being brought in. I want in. I want to be there for Jet and for Caspian,” he stated.
Yeah, she didn’t say anything, but that wasn’t happening. Only, why start that fight now with Ivan? That was another hill to die on for another time.
Instead, she was to the point.
“No, he won’t be going to jail. He set this up that if he is brought in, he can say he didn’t do half of it. He will buy juries, and he’ll try to destroy my career. The last part…fuck it. I don’t care. I’ll retire tomorrow and have peace and fucking quiet for the first time in my life.”
Oh, and no one would blame her.
She wasn’t done.
“The rest…I can’t let him get the publicity he wants. He wants to be famous, and I’m not going to allow that to happen. He wants to talk about Daddy Dearest, and give him a legacy. As far as I’m concerned, that’s not happening. He’s not playing martyr or prolific killer. I’ll erase him from history.”
He said nothing, at first.
Then, he did.
Oh, and it was exactly what she didn’t want him to do, so they could skip the argument. Having Ivan be her personal security was like having another husband—without the perks.
He was up her ass more than Ethan, and that was saying a lot since Ethan tended to try to run roughshod over‘her wellbeing’.
“Well, I’m going with you.”
That’s when she shook her head.
“No, you’re not. I’m going withThe Hunters. They’re Marines and can keep me just as safe as you do. You will be staying on Ethan, Callen, Chris, and Gene. Before you start yourshit, Ivan, know that I don’t need anyone watching me take out the trash.”
He knew what she was saying.
“I won’t think less of you. Hell. I want to put a bullet or ten in him because of Jet. If Caspian’s girl is dead, make that me upping that count to twenty bullets.”
She took a deep breath.
What she needed was for him to truly understand what this would do to her. Because Ivan was as close to her as her own brother, Duke, she went there.
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to come back from this, Ivan. Once I break the law…,” she admitted. “I’ve only hunted down a person like a dog once before.”
Reaching over, he took her hand in his as she shared.
“I did it to avenge the President’s wife when she was my partner. It was intentional, and I didn’t like how it felt. I went out of my way to do it. Even when I took out Javier Hughes for Ethan, it wasn’t a hunt. He tried to kill Gene, and I put him down. When Tony Morell tried to kill me, I put him down. I was protecting people. This is different, and I know it. Going after Devon Slater is intentional. That changes things.”
He didn’t like the way that sounded for a plethora of reasons.
It kind of freaked him out.
“You’re not going to do anything stupid, are you?” he asked. “Because I don’t like the sound of that.”
She pulled off what was left of her badge. She left the gold shield with Jet, until this was over, and all she had left was the photo ID. In it, she was smiling and looked calm.
That woman wasNOlonger in the building.
“This badge means something. It means following the law, and doing it by the book,” she said, touching the FBI lettering next to her photo. “I’m getting a little too quick to doit the wrong way. When this is all said and done, I may need a break.”
Yeah, heREALLYdidn’t like this.
