“I don’t know how much you know about her last assignment in LA before her administrative leave.”

“A bit,” Matt said. He had wondered at the time what, if anything, Kara had left out. But he also knew that she wasn’t supposed to talk about her job. “She took down a human trafficking organization that ran sweatshops throughout Los Angeles.”

“Correct. One of the reasons she was on administrative leave was because her boss had intel that her cover may have been compromised. He didn’t tell her that—he wanted the time to investigate the situation without his detective potentially in the line of fire. The other reason was she used deadly force, and LAPD has a mandatory three days paid administrative leave. He extended it because of other circumstances. And apparently his fears were justified. The media exposed her role in the sweatshop takedown and she won’t be able to go back inside—Popovich is concerned about her safety in any undercover operation, at least for the time being. In addition, they need her to testify against the organization—but the AUSA took over the case.”

“We took the case from her?”

“‘We’ is subjective. The LA field office took the case from LAPD. I don’t have a comment on that because I don’t know the details.”

Kara must be livid.

“Is she in protective custody?” Matt asked. She would hate that, too.

“Not at this point. When I talked to Popovich, I thought about how valuable she was to your unit. And after reading her file, I called him to offer her a position on your team.”

Matt leaned against the kitchen counter. He felt hot and cold at the same time.

“Matt?”

“And?”

“I haven’t talked to her yet—she’s flying out to DC tomorrow to meet with me, and you should be there. But she’s receptive. I promised you veto power over any placements, but you also gave me some leeway because we need this team fully staffed. We need someone like Quinn. She’s a local cop—she can easily liaison with local law enforcement. She’s used to working undercover, and there are many times when that skill set will come in handy. Undercover cops are particularly adept at reading people. And honestly—Popovich sent me her jacket, and while I’m only partly through her files, I’m wholly impressed. She is a bit of a hothead and a maverick, but then again, so are you. And for this team to work, we need people who can think outside of the box.” Tony paused. “I read your report, Matt. Was there a problem you didn’t tell me about?”

“No problem. I’m just surprised, that’s all. Kara made it very clear that she loves her job.”

And that was going to be a problem.

“We worked well together,” Matt said cautiously, “and I think she’ll be an asset to the team. But she’s been an undercover cop practically since she got out of the academy. I don’t know how she’s going to adapt to taking orders.”