“Sir, you said I had two weeks to recover. My skin is fried and I’ve got more gashes than I can count. I’m in no condition to go hunting down murderers right now.”
“Yes, I understand, but-,”
“And what about Mia?” Ella interrupted. “I’m not doing anything without her by my side. Are you keeping her safe in the hospital?”
“Ripley is fine. I’m not asking you to go out in the field, I just have a new development you might be interested in.”
Ella gripped the door handle. She sighed. “If you make it quick, I’ll listen.”
She heard the director talking to someone else. She pulled the phone away from her and sighed heavily. Then his voice boomed through. She could hear it from three feet away.
“It’s not something I can discuss over the phone.”
Ella already knew how this was going to play out, although Edis did have a fair point. FBI personnel weren’t allowed to discuss details of ongoing investigations outside of their internal communications systems, and Ella was using her personal phone. They still hadn’t gotten around to giving her a work cell.
“I can’t come in. What about tomorrow or something?”
“We really need to get on this straight away. I can give you a quick briefing right now if that’s preferable.”
Nothing was preferable. What she’d prefer was to go back in the bar and talk to the handsome gentleman waiting for her.
“Okay, but I got someone waiting for me. Make it fast.”
“Understood. Well, there are two things,” Edis began.
Ella groaned. “Great.”
“The first is that we have a very bizarre incident over in Pennsylvania. It’s the kind of thing that would really get your brain working overtime.”
“With all due respect, I don’t need any help with that.”
“I’m not asking you to go out into the field, just to look over the incident.”
“Isn’t there anyone else available? I’m not sure how much use I’ll be at the moment.”
“We have someone else looking into it too, and since I anticipate Ripley will be out of action for a while, I’m thinking about pairing you with them. How would you feel about that?”
Ella couldn’t think of anything worse. She’d covered with one case with a different partner already and she just found herself missing Ripley all the more for it.
“Sir, I’m sorry, but I don’t want to team up with someone new. I’m not going to be some other agent’s protégé again. Ripley’s the only person I want to work with, and besides, I need to stay in D.C. to keep an eye on her.”
And to kill Tobias Campbell, she thought.
“Oh no, I didn’t mean like that,” Edis said.
Ella walked back inside the bar, concluding that she wanted no part of the director’s new initiative. She was in no condition to hunt predators and the thought of working under anyone other than Mia, especially right now, was a fatiguing prospect.
“Then what did you mean?” She sat back in front of Ben and mouthed the word sorry. Ben kept his smile, but Ella knew it was forced.
“Miss Dark, I don’t expect you to be someone else’s protégé.”
Ella was all but ready to hang up. “Then why team me up with someone else?”
“Because I want you to be the teacher.”
Ella wondered if she hadn’t misheard him.
“Come again? Teacher?”