Nari forced another smile. “That’s kind of you.” She thought of the man before her as Quan, rather than Father; she had hoped to change that while they were working together. She took the seat he had motioned her toward, while hiding any bit of irritation. Now wasn’t the time to get into it with Quan’s boss. Just being in that office meant she’d bull frogged over her own boss, their handlers, their boss, and another boss. Yet another situation that would get her in trouble. “I’m sure it’s not a surprise that I’d like you to reconsider the disbanding of Force’s team.”

Quan’s dark eyes darkened even more. He was a couple of inches taller than her five-five, but he seemed much taller. Black hair, peppered with gray, framed his face. No emotion showed in his expression. “That seems unwise.”

Administrator Clemonte sat back slightly, as if giving Quan the lead in the conversation.

Nari kept her focus on Quan, who was sitting rather close to the other woman. Her instincts started to murmur, but she shut them down for now. Her folks had been divorced for eons, and her mother had remarried when Nari was a young teenager. Her mom and stepdad lived in LA, and she missed them every day. If Quan was dating his boss, that shouldn’t matter to her. But how freaking hypocritical.

She cleared her throat. “The team saved countless lives by preventing the bombings at the marathon last year, and we took down the Boston Mob. It’s a team that gets results, which is vitally important to the HDD.” Surviving as a secret branch of Homeland Security required results. A lot of them.

“Nari, your judgment is of concern to me.” Quan frowned, which was as damaging as a yell from another man. “You were temporarily assigned to Force’s team to give you distance and time away from headquarters, not to form attachments there. The year has concluded and it’s time to advance your career, which might be possible now.”

“It should’ve been possible in the first place,” Nari returned before she could stop herself.

The administrator stood gracefully, her hazel eyes direct. “I believe this is a personal discussion. Quan, we can continue the budget planning after the meeting with the secretary of defense this afternoon. Nari, I hope your new assignment goes well.” She gathered several of the dark-blue file folders off the table and turned on her three-inch heels, striding out of the office with a sense of impressive power.

Nari barely kept from crossing her arms.

Quan tossed a gold-and-burgundy Montblanc pen onto the table, where it rolled to a stop against a pad of paper. “Do you or do you not like working for the HDD?”

She knew better than to delve into the question with any sort of depth. “I do.”