Three Libras - BLACKBIRD book 4

12. no need

Gillian came out the door before Brock needed to knock. "Agent Brockner!" she greeted him. "Sorry to ask, sir, but are you too busy? Can you spare me a minute?"

Brock nodded, wearing a proper blank scowl. "Sure. What do you need?"

"Can you help me try to think this through, sir?"

Her smile was apologetic, and Brock was surprised at realizing she didn't expect a yes for an answer. That was odd. When had he ever refused to discuss a case with her?

"Of course, Gillian. What—?"

"Agent Brockner?" Cooper's dry, cold voice cut him off. "How can I help you?"

Brock turned to the Iron Lady, who stood at her doorway, eyebrows arched as she waited for him to explain his presence there.

"Good morning, Agent Cooper. I just heard you're still with the blackhat case and dropped by to see if there's anything I can do to help."

Cooper wrapped herself up in her dignity like a cloak. "Thank you so much for your concern, but we have it covered." She noticed Gillian's frown behind Brock and hesitated. "Don't we, Gillian?"

"Oh, yes, ma'am. Of course we do. But I could really use Agent Brockner's help, you know? To work on the blackhat's profile."

Cooper frowned and her eyes darted to the team's office—isn't Coleman a profiler now?

Brock anticipated whatever she was about to argue. "I'll be glad to do it, if you don't mind," he said, years of life-or-death situations working to add the right hint of authority to his calm, polite words.

He was there only because he was a workaholic fool, who couldn't stand knowing them busy with a sensitive case while he enjoyed a well-earned weekend off. Nobody really needed him there, Gillian least of all. She was more than able to think anything through by herself. And Cooper was right: her best friend was there, and a profiler.

Yet she'd turned to him. She wanted him to help her figure this out. And if there was something Brock wasn't about to do, it was missing a chance to experience the pure, intellectual pleasure of engaging that sharp mind of hers.

Cooper could but nod—she couldn't tell Brock what to do anymore—and turned to Gillian, still oozing dignity. "Did you contact all the companies?"

"Yes, ma'am. They're all warned and they've already received the lists. Now we only need to send them the official notifications, to give them the legal frame to move."

"I'll have them—" Cooper trailed off when she glanced at her assistant's desk and saw it vacant. She breathed in, annoyed. Her assistant wouldn't be there before eight.

"Miles can do it, if you instruct her," Gillian said.

"Good. We need it done before talking to the press."

Gillian flashed a tight smile at Brock. "I'll be right back," she muttered, and hurried away.

Brock observed Cooper. She was keeping some trouble to herself. But he knew her well enough to expect her to start a conversation about it.

"What is it?" he asked, lowering his voice.

She kept her eyes fixed on the team's office. "Cyber Crimes wants to take over and send a team to handle the case. Looks like they've been after this hacker for years."

Brock nodded with a quick grimace. He didn't need her to elaborate any further to get the picture. It was a lose-lose situation for Cooper. If she allowed Cyber to take over, it would undermine the field office's reputation, and all the hard work she'd been doing over the last year to improve its performance. If she refused and Gillian's team caught this so-wanted blackhat, Cyber would have the perfect excuse to claim Gillian's techs and take them away from Boston to DC, breaking up the team.

"Have you talked to Cassidy?" he asked.

Cooper scowled—what did Cassidy have to do with it?

"I'll call him," Brock said. "Don't worry, he'll take care of it."

Gillian came back with Aldana, who followed Cooper into her office. Brock motioned for them to step away from Cooper's closing door.

"So why don't you tell me about the dr—subject? What do you know about him?"

He fought back the urge to perform an all-out facepalm. At least Gillian had too much in her mind to notice he'd stuttered and corrected what he was about to say. Dragon! Tell me about the dragon! You almost said it, Brockner! Jeez! Can't you keep a grip on yourself?

Gillian opened her mouth to answer, then glanced away with a frown, and looked up at him with a helpless shrug. "Nothing..." she muttered, as if only now she'd become fully aware of it. "We know absolutely nothing about him... Not even if he's actually a he..."

Brock noticed the way she held his eyes, her mind a sudden blank. She'd been working on it for eighteen hours now, with hardly any break. Not to mention the emotional distress of talking to her father. She was in no shape to connect the dots as she used to. So he looked up past her and nodded to the elevators.

"Come, let's fetch a sweet bite for your team. You can use some fresh air."

She looked like a child who just found out Christmas came earlier this year. She managed not to grin when she nodded, though her bright eyes gave it away.

Tanya was on her way from the coffee machine to her computers when she saw Brock and Gillian leaving together. Aldana wasn't there to trade with her the mandatory meaningful look, but the girl found Russell's little smile as he watched them.

Hank followed their eyes and scoffed. "Get the arrest order ready. Those two are about to find out who's this infamous Ghost."

Fred made sure Connor had his earphones on, then lowered his voice to say, "Funny. Were he any other guy, we'd be trying every joke we know about morning quickies."

Ron shook his head. "Nah. I mean, sure Reg can try. But I think she knows Brockner ain't gonna lay a finger on her until their wedding night."

The word 'wedding' in the same sentence with Gillian and Brock caused nervous chuckles, failing to hide their shock.

Ron gifted them with an ironic smile. "You better wrap your mind around it, guys."