Interlude: First Noel (The Executive Office #1.5)

by Tal Bauer

When he got in Wednesday morning, Ethan found a Post-It stuck to his computer monitor. See me immediately. Sighing, Ethan grabbed the note and headed to Shepherd’s office. “You called?” He held the note up, stuck to one finger. “Shut the door.” Shepherd was all business, sitting at his desk and waiting for Ethan to take a seat before he spoke. “I’m not going to pretend I don’t know what you’ve been up to these past few days. I knew Monday morning when the head of the FBI office called me, screaming about how I needed to bench you and strip you of your badge and gun.” Ethan stayed quiet. “I wanted to see how this would play out. What you guys would do. You had a real shot at ending this thing.” Shepherd tapped his desktop. “And you did. Well done.” Stunned, Ethan blinked at his supervisor. “Sir?” “You refused to take the easy way out, Reichenbach. You kept doing your job. Kept showing up. Kept being an agent.” Shepherd shrugged. “I was wrong about you.” Ethan’s jaw dropped. Shepherd cleared his throat. “That FBI head called me back. Said he’s got an opening on his JTTF team and wants to offer it to this office.” He squinted. “You want to restart your career? You probably can’t run an investigation in your own name, but you can do everything else. Run intel and counterintel. Work with the others. Chase terrorists. Go after the big fish again.” One hand waved over his desk and out his windows to the bullpen of agents. “Not be stuck here working financial crimes.” Stunned, Eth...