She’d not held anything back during this debrief of the events in Peru, even sharing her candid opinions on the very odd but likable group of contract task force operators she’d spent the day with. She’d been worried that Steve would be upset about her not attempting to intervene in their disappearing of a Peruvian national, but he hadn’t blinked an eye. Weird. What she’d witnessed in that courtyard in Cuzco had really messed with her headspace. There was something not normal about that man. It had taken all four of the Trinity operators to subdue him, and Jedidiah and Eli were not small dudes. Combine the courtyard incident with what she’d witnessed in the mountain village and her perception of the world was forever altered from what it had been forty-eight hours ago . . .

“Why are you staring at me like that?” she finally said, unable to stand it anymore.

“I’m trying to decide,” Schmidt said, unblinking.

“Trying to decide what?”

“Trying to decide what to do with you, Gayle,” he replied, the words perfectly audible despite his mouth barely moving. Steve was one of those kind of talkers, and she wondered if it was an acquired skill from years of fieldwork where talking without moving your lips was a highly advantageous skill. Regardless, she suspected he would make a heck of a ventriloquist, and she had to suppress a grin at a mental image of “Grandpa Steve” performing for his grandchildren with a Snoopy sock puppet with button eyes and floppy ears.

“How much longer do you think it will take? Because I’ve really gotta pee,” she said, just keeping it real.

He pursed his lips at her, the expression framed and amplified by the well-kept silver goatee he wore. “I’ve decided. I’m pulling you out of Peru.”

“What?”

“Yeah,” he said, rubbing a hand over his shaved and mostly bald pate. “I think it’s the right call.”

“So you’re firing me?” she said, her voice sounding far less indignant than she’d meant it to.

“Quite the opposite. Some might consider the position I’m about to offer you as a promotion.”

“Oh,” she said, feeling her cheeks flush while her heart rate went along on this emotional roller coaster. “Does that mean you want me here, on your team?”

“Yes, I want you here, but not on my team,” he said, still messing with her.

“Okay, um, so what exactly are we talking about?” she said, hating that he was forcing her to pull the punch line out of him instead of just hitting her with it.

“I want you to take over Sierra Seven liaison duties from Mark. He’s going to be retiring in October and until three minutes ago, I hadn’t picked his replacement. I think it should be you.”

“But I’m not—”