Page 32 of Under Fire in Big Sky

Eli stayed at her side. Not that she needed any backup from him in this regard.

“I don’t think I made myself clear earlier,” the guy said.

“Are you upset, Agent Trujillo?” she asked.

“Yes, I am.”

Her demeanor was pure professionalism. “What’s the problem?”

“The way you forgot the chain of command inside is the problem. You private contractors are arrogant and overstep boundaries.”

“You were assigned this case last night,” she said. “I’ve been working it since Monday. Granted, that’s not much longer, but I had a better feel for Maben because I understand his history and values.”

“She did get Maben to give us something to go on,” Eli added, “while saving you the hassle of getting a warrant along with precious time since NDR doesn’t intend to stop with the fires at the resort.”

“Time is of the essence in a case such as this,” Olivia said. “I wouldn’t call any of that a problem. I’d call it progress.”

Trujillo clenched his jaw. “That may be, but I’m running things. I’ll make the decisions about the best course of action. Not you and not the cowboy.”

Olivia clasped her hands in front of her. “I concede you have the badge, which gives you the authority. But we’re on the same team,” she said, moving her head up and down, “working toward the same goal, aren’t we?”

It was hard to dismiss common ground.

The special agent straightened. “Yes.” He nodded. “We are.”

“In the spirit of cooperation, I’d like to continue working as a team.” She handed him her business card. “It would please both our bosses,” she said, nodding. “Wouldn’t you agree?”

Trujillo nodded. “Yeah.”

Nifty and effective trick. Eli wondered if Liv ever used that technique on him.

“Maben gave us a long list of names,” Olivia said. “It’ll take several investigators days to comb through it and conduct interviews. Since you’re the primary on this, I imagine you’ll have agents assigned to handle it as soon as possible.”

“I will,” Trujillo said, “and what will you two be doing?”

“This won’t end until we stop Shepherd,” she said. “Maben told us the best way to do that. We’re going to tap the resources of the Aegis Strategic Intelligence Group and Ironside Protection Services to find Audrey Carter.”

Eli had already updated the team on everything. Takoda Yazzie, Bo Lennox, and Autumn Stratton were available. Olivia knew Tak and Bo best. They were both former combat engineers also and they had all served at RED HORSE at the same time, but the guys weren’t aware of his relationship with Liv while they were on active duty. Autumn was a forensic psychologist who used to work for the FBI, and was the newest on the team. The three of them were standing by back at home, ready to jump in and help, as soon as Eli had something for them to do. Now he needed them to investigate Reggie Purdom and find out if the report had been falsified.

He intended to give them a heads-up about the potential risks.

They were accustomed to danger. The entire team, including Chance Reyes, who oversaw the office, had been in the thick of it together. Putting their necks on the line for one another. Even if they had to outmaneuver government agencies to get the job done.

That gave him an idea.

“You know, there might be an even faster way to locate Audrey,” Eli said, thinking about the last major case Ironside handled. “But it’ll put the onus on the FBI.”

Trujillo crossed his arms. “I’m listening.”

“There’s a highly classified government facial recognition program called Odin’s Eye. I know FBI Deputy Director Oscar Baccarin has access to it.”

Trujillo narrowed his eyes. “And how exactly do you know about it if it’s so classified?”

From Olivia’s expression, he could tell she was also curious since Eli didn’t have a top-secret security clearance. At least, not anymore.

“It’s a long story. Ironside Protection Services got involved with a big manhunt back in April and we had some interaction with the deputy director. He’s aware of the specifics.”

Understanding dawned across Olivia’s face.