Ty Curtis pushed his way forcefully through the double doors that led to Carter Shaw's bullpen. Tearing off his jacket, he threw it in the general direction of his desk and nodded his head toward Jamie Allen, a pretty young blonde standing next to Dean Bendis' desk, a coffee cup in her hand.
"Okay, I'm here. What's so important?" Ty asked her and she only nodded toward the man sitting at the desk.
Dean Bendis ran his hand over the stubble on his chin thoughtfully; his green eyes glued to a computer screen as information and pictures scrolled by. "Maynard's bringin' in somebody else," he said matter-of-factly.
Carter Shaw's most senior operative, Dean Bendis, had an on again off again 'thing' with Captain Maynard's assistant and, after he'd fucked her eight ways to Sunday the night before, she'd let it slip.
"That is bullshit, man," Ty said hotly shaking his head in disgust.
Jamie nodded her's in agreement and watched the screen over the rim of her cup as she sipped the hot brew.
"She lost her entire team on her last op and now nobody wants to touch her," Dean said as he continued to scan the fast moving information for only the juiciest bits.
"So how is it that we get stuck with this particular pariah?" Ty wondered aloud as he spun a chair around and slid it between his legs.
"Apparently she's got some pull with Captain Maynard so it only stands to reason that he's bringing her in to take Carter's place." Dean deduced.
"Take Carter's place?" Jamie repeated waited for the punch line and, when no joke was forthcoming, she flatly refused to believe it. "Uh uh, that can't be right."
"She's the same rank as Carter but with more undercover experience. Why else would Maynard assign her to us?" Dean speculated, a frown creasing his forehead.
"Maybe it's management's way of telling us to choose another line of work," Ty suggested flippantly and, as far as Dean was concerned, he thought the man wasn't far off.
Dean Bendis didn't mind working for a woman, especially one as hot as this one, but it took a special person, someone like Carter Shaw, to dig beneath the layers of his self-protective bullshit and ferret out the man underneath, to recognize his true worth and Dean sincerely doubted this bitch would take the time to read between his lines or to even look beyond the obvious. He also doubted that she would put up with his bullshit and occasional trips "off the reservation".
Once recruited, Dean had not had an easy time of it being totally accepted by Carter but now the lieutenant was a strong supporter, even if he wasn't a friend of the young detective. Carter Shaw didn't have any friends. Dean felt it would be hard, if not impossible, for him to accept the change in leadership and, judging by the recent demise of the four men directly under the in-coming cop's command; it might be an adjustment he would be pretty fucking stupid to make.
Standing quietly at the back of the room, Carter Shaw watched with mixed emotions as his team huddled together around Dean's desk. It had taken him months to talk Captain Maynard into giving him this non-department and even more time to cherry pick Dean Bendis and Ty Curtis from the best undercover cops LAPD had to offer. And Jamie Allen, his newest acquisition, had been "under' since inventing a whole new identity and persona for herself a few years ago. Yeah, Carter was satisfied with his team and now there was a real possibility they would be yanked out from under his command and given to another senior officer, a cop with a checkered past at best. One with the stink of death still on her.
When Captain Maynard had told him of his decision, Carter had tried to plead his case but his words had fallen on deaf ears. Maynard had blinders on when it came to this woman and pointedly ignored the obvious - that she was a loose cannon. Effectively blowing off his concerns, Maynard hadn't confirmed or denied his intent regarding Lieutenant Ciarin Falconer, he just handed over her jacket and ordered Shaw to make the best of it.
After giving the thick file a superficial perusing it was obvious that, like himself, she didn't play well with others and although the official verdict was in and she had, in point of fact, been cleared of any wrongdoing, her last four playmates had nonetheless ended up dead. Throwing the brown folder onto his desk Carter knew all too well that at this point the official verdict really didn't matter. The agent in command, depending on the outcome of the op, took the glory or the fall and this bitch had taken a monumental header.