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The two did not shake hands. They just stood there like they were afraid one was trying to get the jump on the other.

Talbott, a man waiting for the full pension and the exit door that came with it, smiled deeply, and said in a fake cheery voice, “I’ll just leave you two to get to know each other better.”

The door closed behind him.

“I didn’t ask for this either, just so you know,” said White.

“Then why are you here?”

She gave him the full hiked-eyebrows treatment. The hole in the side of her nostril quivered with something, maybe suppressed energy or rage.

“I was unaware I had a choice since the Bureau signs my paycheck. But I didn’t know I would be partnering with you until thirty seconds ago.”

“Then we have that in common,” said Decker. “But I don’t want to work with a new partner.”

“Soyouhave a choice?” she said.

“Apparently not.”

“I know Alex Jamison. She’s a good agent. She told me things about you.”

“Why? You said you didn’t know you were partnering with me until just now.”

“Word gets around, Decker. Don’t think there’s another one like you in the Bureau.”

“What did she tell you?”

“Between me and her. By the way, I go by Freddie, just in case you were wondering.”

“Is this enough getting to know each other? Because I’ve had my fill,” he said.

“Good enough for me, but if we walk out of here now Talbott will just make us have lunch together or something, and I doubt you want that.”

Decker edged over to the window and looked out on a cloudy day, his thoughts just as muddled. He detested change, and here he was being hit by it on all sides. He could either leave the Bureau or endure a new partner named Frederica/Freddie. Which scenario would be worse? He didn’t know.

“I heard about your old partner back in Ohio. That was a real tragedy. My sympathies,” added White. She sounded sincere.

Decker didn’t turn around. “She was a good cop. She didn’t deserve to go out that way.”

“Does anybody?”

“I can think of a few.”

“Anything you want to know about me?”

He turned to her, mildly intrigued, and said, “What do you think is important?”

“I’m divorced. Got two kids. My mother lives with us, helps to take care of them. I grew up in Philly. I had three brothers, and I have one sister.”

“Had?”

“One brother died by gunshot during a shootout with another gang, and one’s in prison until he’s an old man. My oldest brother is an attorney and works for the Public Defender’s Office in Boston. My sister has her own tech business and lives in Palo Alto in a house worth more than I will ever make in my life.”

“You always this open with strangers?”

“You’re mypartner. You have to have my back and I yours. Okay, to finish my personal highlight reel, I went to Howard University for my undergrad. Got my master’s from Georgetown. Joined the Bureau thirteen years ago. I’ve fired my gun twice in the line of duty. I’m small but I hit above my weight and I bite really hard. Got a double black belt in karate not because I love martial arts, but because I hate getting my ass kicked, both physically and symbolically. I do not tolerate idiots or laziness or bullshit, and I encounter way more of all three than I need to right here at the Bureau. I like to know where I stand at all times. As a person of color and a woman on top of that, I find it a necessity to my future well-being, and that of my family. And nothing is more important to me than that.”

“How old are your kids?”


Tags: David Baldacci Amos Decker Thriller