Page 4 of To Have and To Hold
As it was, they were having difficulty finding an adequate partner for Atticus. Evan had been in charge of interviewing the handful of candidates they had, plus a few Sniper 1 Security employees who were interested in transferring from Dallas. It wasn’t that they couldn’t find people with the skills. They could. Finding people who meshed well with the team tripped Reese up. They were a diverse group, and they liked it that way. Plus, the team they had now worked well together. Reese didn’t want to disrupt their current flow.
“You know how I feel about it,” Brantley said, adding a “Thanks” when Reese handed him his plate.
“I can do whatever I want,” Reese said—mocking Brantley’s tone—because that was always Brantley’s response. Plus, Brantley would be the first to say that he wanted to work cases, not get bogged down with the operational bullshit, yet he somehow found himself doing precisely that.
“I think it’s a logical plan,” Brantley noted around a mouthful of eggs. “And I’ll support whatever you want, but you need to delegate this to someone else.”
Reese used a fork to pull the bacon from the skillet, placing two slices on Brantley’s plate. “Delegate what, exactly?”
“The whole of it. Running the teams, managing the office. Someone else can handle all that shit.”
He put his bacon on his plate and turned off the gas burner. “Any suggestions on who?”
“Baz,” Brantley said without hesitation.
That gave Reese pause. “Really?”
“Really.” Brantley took a swig of coffee. “I think we should put him in charge of the whole thing. Hiring, firing, organizing and shit. Let him take the reins. He needs something to ground him, and that would do it.”
Reese hadn’t considered that. They’d originally hired Baz as an investigator because of his skill set. But a lot had happened since then. At the same time, a lot had changed.
“Unless you happen to enjoy the role,” Brantley added.
“Not particularly.” Reese didn’t care for the stress that came along with it. He was like Brantley in that he preferred to be working cases.
“I even think he can manage the relationship with Z.”
Since Reese’s brother had a difficult time keeping his nose out of their business, that was almost a full-time job in itself.
Brantley continued. “With Baz at the helm, we can offer our services more widely. Assist high-priority cases in other states.”
“Okay,” Reese said, picking up his fork. “We agree to hire four more people—”
“We’ll let Darius manage Charlie, Jay, and whoever we hire.”
“Darius? Really?” Reese was honestly more surprised by that suggestion than by Baz running the whole thing.
“He’s good at managing people,” Brantley explained. “Plus, it gives Luca the freedom to do what he does best. He’ll have to take over full-time while JJ’s on maternity leave, anyway.”
Reese huffed a laugh. “You really think she’s gonna take time off.”
“No. But I want to give her the option.”
Reese knew JJ. She would find a way to balance motherhood and her job with the skilled precision with which she did everything. He wasn’t worried about any gaps there.
“But that means you have to delegate,” Brantley said, pointing at Reese with his fork. “Let go of the minutia and trust them to do it.”
“Says the control freak,” Reese noted with a laugh.
“I know when to butt out.”
He did, sure. Of course, that tended to be when it came to paperwork and conference calls.
But Brantley did have a good point. Reese didn’t mind conceding that.
“Okay,” he agreed.
Brantley nodded once. “Good. That’s settled. Now. Let’s talk about this dinner with my family.”
