Ken left the room shaking his head with Jacobs in tow. He already knew she was one tough cookie, and he was certainly expecting her to be difficult. Her inherent strength was one of the things he had liked about her from the get-go, but at the moment, he didn't have the time for it. He knew he was right that no one would be looking for her. At least not for a while. Most of his people were loners by nature. It certainly wasn't a requirement, but it fit with the typical personality of people he was looking for. People who were intelligent but functioned a bit outside the box. Collins and Stevens were his most extroverted. He had had the most trouble with them early on maintaining decorum and caution with outside contacts. Both of them on more than one occasion had jeopardized sensitive information. Now a days they had become well versed in how to maintain outside relationships in a secure manner.
Not that his mostly introverted crew were incapable of close relationships. They were just picky. Within the compound everyone became connected. There was a lot of similar personality traits, and everyone relied on each other. Friendships naturally broke off into closer relationships of some wives and partnerships of the men, with some overlap. For example, his wife and his second in command Malone had been super tight ever since she had saved them all from a very early on fuck up in this whole little hair brained scheme of his. He was constantly reminded of how much he owed his amazing wife.
Ken knew his people. He made a point of it. Zia had a mixed relationship with her dad, who had mostly raised her. They talked, but sporadically. She had lost her mom tragically when she was around three. She periodically emailed college and vet school friends, had the occasional date that never seemed to amount to much, and that was about it. She had a pet sitter on standby when she got too busy at the raptor pen or went out of town for a vet conference. He also therefore knew that she had a cat and some sort of lizard at her apartment, a chameleon, maybe, he thought he remembered Miranda telling him. Said pet sitter had already been contacted for pet care, again with the convenient excuse of Zia's abrupt illness. He figured her pets could be a bargaining chip in his favor. He knew that they were already being attended to, but she didn't. He had no problem with her initially thinking he was an asshole. He needed her trust for the long haul; he really wasn't a monster deep down. He wouldn't hurt her or her pets. But he was also not above manipulation, and she didn't need to know that, not just yet anyway.
He fished his phone out of his pocket to call the kitchen staff. He needed to get Zia and Daniels something to eat. His next step was Miranda. If they couldn't have their normal extended session, he at least needed to get off. She was likely just as hard up. Then he needed her to try and talk some sense into one stubborn ass paleo vet.