Twisted and Tied (Marshals 4)

“No,” he insisted. “You won’t tell Kage a damn thing.”

I took a breath. “You’re the most important thing.”

“I feel the same.”

“Which leaves us where?” I asked, catching my breath, then swallowing hard.

“We’ll figure—”

“Are you okay?” Eli asked, moving in beside me, hand next to Ian’s on my back. “You look like you’re gonna barf.”

“I’m having some issues.”

“Well, yeah, you—”

Kage started talking again. “As of today, Eli Kohn will be the new director of the Public Affairs Division, the new face of the Northern District.”

I straightened up like I’d been zapped by a Taser, looked at Kage a second, and then turned to look sideways at Eli. To say he looked gobsmacked was an understatement.

“Now who’s lookin’ barfy?” Ian asked Eli with a smirk.

Eli opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

“As that post has stood vacant for the last six months since the retirement of Gordon Eames, Kohn will not be interim, but the direct replacement to the post.”

Deer in the headlights all the way.

Eli accepted the organizer and lanyard from Elyes as Kage assured him he’d do a fine job. “I have every faith in you,” he finished. “You’ll represent the office well.”

“Thank you, sir,” Eli said, his voice sounding like dried leaves.

We were all standing there looking shell-shocked.

“And finally,” Kage said in his deep rumble, “Ian Doyle will take over as deputy director and, going forward, will be the main point of contact in all interagency dealings. He’s the go-to guy for issues with anyone outside of this office.”

Oh. Holy. Fuck.

I turned to him, and Ian was gray. I’d never actually seen anyone do that. All color drained from his face—I had no idea that could actually happen. “Gobsmacked” didn’t do his expression justice anymore.

“I think I know what we’re gonna do after work today,” Eli ventured.

Me too. Drinking. Lots and lots of drinking.

“Jesus, Doyle, you look like ass.”

Ian sat down hard in Kowalski’s chair, and I stepped in close, hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently.

“That makes no logical sense,” Ian whispered like his brain was offline.

I was at a loss myself. I could not imagine anyone being less ready to be a liaison than Ian. But at the same time… Ian was very similar to Kage in a lot of ways. Meeting Kage, hearing him bellow, seeing his size, and being the subject of his glare, you wouldn’t guess he was unflappable under pressure and the rock we all clung to.

So maybe, just maybe, Kage saw the same in Ian.

Still, the announcement made my chest explode with a flock of flapping birds. I couldn’t even take one more surprise today. Not. One.

Kage then cleared his throat and indicated the back of the room with an open hand.

“With the changes I’ve just implemented, we need an additional six men here in the investigator office, and we have five—oh, four—here today.”

Attention shifted to the men standing along the back wall close to the exit. Our floor was set up so there was glass at desk level to the ceiling and concrete block from desk level to the ground. There was no door that let out of the bullpen. The only door that could be closed was the one to Kage’s office.

When Kage was promoted, he was supposed to move to the chief deputy’s office, one door down from where we were now, but he’d stayed in the supervisory deputy’s office. I wondered what would happen now.

“Joining our team are Senior Investigator Josiah Redeker, from the District of Nevada,” Kage announced, and Redeker lifted his hand, “Deputy Marshal Gabriel Brodie, from the Southern District here in Illinois, Probationary Marshal Leo Rodriguez, who moved here from New York, Probationary Marshal Sen Yamane, from LA—” Kage paused as another man came in, all smiles until he saw Kage furrow his brow. “—and Deputy Marshal Eric Pazzi, from the Northern District of California.”

We all remained quiet as Kage took a breath.

“We arrive on time here in Chicago, Pazzi.”

“Yessir,” he said quickly, grimacing.

“There will be one more joining us in the next few days, but at the moment, I’m still awaiting transfer paperwork.”

Ian put a hand on my shoulder, drawing my attention.

“All the transfers meet me in the conference room. Everyone else remain here so I can give you your—yes?”

A man I had not seen since the past fall stood in the bullpen doorway, and even though seeing him shouldn’t have signaled alarm in me—he was just an FBI agent, not some harbinger of doom—I still jolted. After a moment two more joined him, all in trench coats, and Special Agent Tilden Adair, who I knew, the one in front, opened his badge to reveal the familiar FBI credentials and pulled them for Kage.

“I’m Special Agent—”

“Tilden Adair,” Kage finished for him. “I remember. What can I do for you, Agent?”

He gave Kage a nod as he put his wallet away. “We have a situation, Chief, and we need Marshal Jones.”