Page 151 of Back in the Saddle

I did this asking, “So, how was your day?”

“It was a day.”

I thought he was blowing me off, but he continued.

“We have an established rep in Denver and LA. But as I mentioned to you before, we’re starting from scratch here. Things have been slow. However, our rep in those other places is such, they weren’t that slow. That said, now shit’s sparking off. Since we’re picky with recruiting, there’s gonna be a lot of shuffling of staff until we can get another couple people on the payroll. This isn’t going to be easy. All the men in Denver have families they don’t want to be away from for very long. All the men in LA primarily do security details, and they can’t get away. It’s good Roam is moving down. That’ll help.”

“I thought Roam just made the decision to move. Is he fully down already?”

“He’s gotta move his shit, but he’s staying with Mace and Stella while he looks for a place and meshes with the team. Soon as he finds a place, he’ll go get his shit.”

“Right.”

“Also, we’re bracing for a showdown at the office because Shirleen has decided she’s going to be the firm’s Operating Manager with her base here, but Mace had just talked the woman who worked with us in LA into moving to Phoenix, so we don’t know how that’s gonna go.”

I turned to him again as he continued talking.

“They’re both spitfires, so unless we can figure that out, it’s gonna spark off too.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” I noted.

He shook his head. “Shirleen manages the entire operation of NI and S. Payroll. Billing. Accounts receivable. Bookkeeping and accounting. Marjorie, who has already retired, twice, the second time when Mace and Stella moved to Phoenix, would only manage Phoenix operations, which means local staffing, case reporting, filing, receptionist functions and acting as a personal assistant to Mace.”

“So they won’t clash,” I remarked.

“No. They’ll clash. Shirleen has a laissez-faire work ethic. She gets it done and done well, but if she feels the need to take an afternoon off to go shopping, she’ll go. Marjorie has a Puritanical work ethic. She’s there on time. She’s highly organized. She’s obsessively professional. The only thing they have in common is that they’re both ballbusters. If they work together, shit will undoubtedly get real.”

“Well, at least it’ll make the office interesting.”

His eyes twinkled, and I noted how good of a look it was for him, before he said, “Yeah. And fortunately for me, I don’t have to be in the office very often.”

I kept stirring the mushrooms, thinking that this recipe was kind of boring (though, it was gonna taste amazing), when I offered, “I was born here, and I know a lot of people. No one springs to mind as a badass, but what are you looking for in recruiting?”

“Cap and I think Jacob might be a fit for the team.”

I looked at him yet again, this time with surprise.

Notsurprisesurprise, because it appeared the most important aspect of having a job with that team was to be built and ludicrously good-looking, and Jacob was that.

But still, surprise.

“Jacob?”

“He’s in excellent shape. He works with his hands. He seems to have good instincts. He’s protective of those he cares about, and we have to know what we’re doing, but we have to do it having the backs of the people we work with. He’ll need a lot of training, but we think he’d be a fit.”

“Have you talked to him about it?”

He smiled at me. “No, since he’s pissed I’m not talking you out of ‘whatever that fool shit is’ you’re doing. And to make it clear, the ‘fool shit’ part of that were his words.”

I knew he’d gone to Eric to talk to him about my insane life.

“Once he calms down, we’ll talk to him,” Eric concluded.

“How many people are you looking for?”

“At least two for fieldwork. An additional two for full time in the surveillance room. And we need someone who can manage the surveillance room. All of the junior members of the team work that room, Brady, Knox, Gabe. But with that, we’re seriously short-staffed, and we need people who take that on as their primary job.”

“Surveillance room?”

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