Page 66 of No Reason to Trust

He lifted her hand to his mouth and pressed a kiss to her palm. “I have no idea what the Bureau does if someone needs a bodyguard, and I’ll ask her about that. Find out if they use non-agents for that, and if so, how do you get on their list.”

“Thank you,” she said. “Fingers crossed that I could work something out with the Bureau.” She drew in a hopeful breath. “But if I can’t, we’ll figure something out.”

The next day, Jake was going to take a day off, but Livvy shook her head. “Don’t do that,” she said. “We might need all the days off you have. Go to work and talk to Diana. See if they use outside bodyguards.” She leaned closer to Jake. “And ask if it would be possible for me to be a… a contract hire, I guess. Short term, for a single job, or something like that.”

“I’ll ask her,” he said. “I think she’s pretty flexible. She might go for that.”

* * *

The next morning, Jake made an appointment to talk to Diana, then headed to his office to make a list of things he wanted to ask her. He was pretty sure that the Bureau didn’t hire temporary workers, but he’d ask anyway. And he’d find out where the Bureau went if one of their agents needed a bodyguard.

When his phone alarm went off, he grabbed a notebook and headed for her office. When he arrived, the receptionist called Diana, and after a short conversation, the receptionist nodded at the door to Diana’s office. “Go on in,” she said.

Diana looked up from the papers she was studying and said, “Hey, Jake. Good to see you. What can I do for you?” She pushed the papers in front of her to the side and focused all her attention on him.

He swallowed once, then straightened his shoulders. “Livvy told me she came to you yesterday to ask about getting her old job back.”

Diana nodded. “She did, yes.”

“I’m not sure she shared her reasons with you, so I wanted to clarify them. And also tell you that she wants to stay in D.C., but not necessarily as an FBI agent.”

Diana raised her eyebrows. “She didn’t tell me that.”

“Of course she didn’t,” Jake said immediately. “She was completely sincere, but that wasn’t her first choice. And when she talked to you, she didn’t even know what my reaction would be to her showing up in D.C. For all she knew, I’d tell her to get lost.”

Diana tilted her head as she studied him. “I’m betting you didn’t say anything even close to get lost.”

“No, ma’am, I didn’t.” Jake blew out a breath. “Livvy and I are good, and we’re trying to figure out how to be together and both still have jobs. I know she asked you if she could have her old job back, and you said yes. As much as she appreciates that, it’s not her first choice.”

Diana smiled. “I didn’t think it was. I saw it as covering all her bases.”

“That’s exactly what it was,” Jake said, relieved that Diana hadn’t taken offense at Livvy’s request. “But I do have a few questions.”

Diana leaned back in her chair. “Shoot.”

“First of all, does the Bureau ever hire temporary workers? Maybe for a specific job, or a specific window of time?”

Diana sighed. Shook her head. “We don’t. I know that Livvy’s a special case, since she was an agent for a long time. But there are too many downsides to that. First and foremost is the security issue. If we hired someone on a temporary basis, the security screening would be time-consuming and expensive. Likely not worth it.

“Secondly, there would be so much information that she’d need. It would take a long time for her to get up to speed. So, no, Jake, I’m afraid that Livvy working here on a temporary basis wouldn’t work for us.”

Jake tried hard to hide his disappointment. “I suspected that was the case, but I had to ask.” It would have been perfect and easy, but when had anything been easy for him and Livvy? “Another question -- what does the Bureau do when someone involved in an investigation needs a bodyguard? Do you just use one of your agents? Or do you hire private security?”

Diana leaned back in her chair. “We generally use one of our own agents. It’s a lot easier than vetting a private security person. A lot quicker, as well.”

“Okay,” Jake said, taking a deep breath. “What do you know about private security services in D.C.?”

“I know there are a few of them,” she said. “One has a good reputation. The others are… problematic, for one reason or another.” She leaned toward Jake. “Is Livvy thinking about starting her own service?”

“No. What she’d like to do is open a branch of Blackhawk Security in D.C. Mel and Dev have stationed people in both Chicago and Seattle, but they’ve had a lot of business in those two cities, so Blackhawk Security is a known commodity in those locations. That’s not the case for D.C. They might have had a few clients here, but not enough to create any buzz.”

“I see Livvy’s dilemma.” Diana frowned. “Let me give that some thought,” she said. “I have a lot of contacts in this city. I might find a few companies who occasionally need protection for their employees. If Livvy decides to go in that direction, I have some people she could contact.”

“Thanks, Diana.” Jake wanted to pump his fist. Instead, he said, “That would be very helpful.”

She smiled at Jake. “I’ll start working on a list.”

“I’ll let Livvy know. A few contacts would help when she pitches her idea to Mel Melbourne and Dev Smith.”

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