David looked up from his discussion with Keeley and Darla, and found himself amused at Kenyon's carefully expressionless face. "You must be Darren's replacement."
"With all due respect, sir, I can't replace another man. But, I am here to fill his vacated position to the best of my ability, sir."
Keeley and Darla looked at him with interest, as David smiled, "You'll do. Call me David. Have you run into another new agent on your way here? I was supposed to get two."
Rafe hesitated, unsure as to how he was supposed to identify new agents on his first day, "No, sir. I mean, David."
David laughed, "Relax. You're not in the Navy anymore."
"It'll take some getting used to, sir. Sorry, sir. Um, David." Rafe replied, a small smile softening his face.
"No problem. Grab that desk, it's yours. Darla's lead agent," David left the reason unsaid. They were still raw from losing Darren.
Rafe stiffened when he felt a presence behind him. A soft voice said, "David, I'm sorry, but could I steal Keeley for a minute? I... I need her support on something." He turned around and caught his breath at the sight of the speaker.
"Go ahead, Keeley," David gave his assent.
"Verity Granger," Darla replied to Rafe's raised eyebrow when they left. She was a little amused at Rafe's reaction, but not surprised. Verity was the beauty in the family. "Asst. Director Granger's youngest daughter, and Darren's girlfriend.
"Darren left everything to her," David said. "Including his pension. Don's probably talking to them about that now."
Rafe wondered if they were warning him off.
-----
"How are the new agents? Fitting in yet?" Don asked casually in his usual status meeting with his Assistant Directors.
"Rafe will do just fine," David said. "Jason's a little greener, but he'll do too." Jason Thanh had finally arrived, two hours late and highly embarrassed about the flat tire he'd had to change.
"Is Rafe the former Navy SEAL?" Megan asked.
David nodded, "He's got this quiet, watchful expression, and a easy, fluid motion. If I was in a dark alley with him, I'd rather he be on my side."
Megan rolled her eyes, "That's just describing Colby when he first started. Is Rafe a good investigator? Unlike Colby when he started..."
Don and David laughed at Colby's wry look. That was another thing Don had been happy about when his team became his Assistant Directors. They understood what needed to be done without a lot of explanation, and they worked well together. The humor became even more important when things went haywire. Don sighed. Especially when the budget was due and cuts had to be made.
"And Siti Mahmoud's fitting right in with Justin's team," Megan said.
"That's the petite Malayan woman from LAPD who took down the 300 pound idiot a couple of weeks ago?" Colby asked. He grinned in amusement at Megan's nod. It had been a huge surprise to the 300 pound bully, and Colby had enjoyed watching every minute of it.
"Maggie's happy with the two we got for her team. And so am I. Luke Whitbourne is our new profiler, and Mei-Lin Chang will replace Nick Felton's position on her team." Two of Colby's agents on Maggie's team had been promoted to senior agents, one of whom had transferred out of Los Angeles. He was still put out about losing that excellent agent, but there were only so many senior agent positions in Los Angeles. Nonetheless, he was happy that he'd manage to hang on to one of them. Both Megan and David had six teams of four agents, he only had five. He'd been glad to get the additional team. "We're working on getting agents for Felton's new team."
Don nodded, happy that they had managed to get funding to add that team. They'd all been stretched too thinly.
"What's on your mind, Don?" Megan asked curiously. He seemed preoccupied.
He glanced at her, then seemed to make up his mind about something and pulled out a piece of paper.
"No way, not in this day and age," David said in disbelief. It was a death threat, put together with letters cut out from some print media.
"'You're a dead man'," Megan read.
"How many have you received?" Colby demanded.
"Just two," Don said diffidently. "I don't want to make a big fuss of it."
Megan looked at him incredulously, "The Director of the FBI gets death threats and you don't want to make a big fuss of it. Do you think we're stupid?"
Don shook his head, but he was smiling faintly, "I didn't want to take your teams away from their cases. But I brought it up because I thought we could investigate this ourselves. Just like old times."
David sighed, "Why do the words 'Just like old times' fill me with dread?"
"Don, I hate to admit this, but we're not as spry as we used to be. We'll need to get some of the younger agents to protect you."
And coming from Colby, that said a lot, Don thought, sighing. Reluctantly, he acquiesed. "But let's keep it as quiet as we can," he insisted. "I'd like a protective detail on Robin, and I'd like to keep Maggie out of it."
"I don't think you'll really have a choice where Maggie's concerned," Colby said dryly. "She's got a mind of her own. Wonder which one of you she got that from?"
------
"So, you and your old team are going to investigate this death threat." Maggie looked at her father in disbelief. "And we're just going to provide protection."
Don grinned at his daughter's reaction, he couldn't help it. She looked thoroughly disgusted with him. "It seemed like a good idea at the time. Keep our hand in, so to speak."
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" She said accusingly.
He said as solemnly as he could, "No one enjoys a death threat, Maggie."
She rolled her eyes. "Who's going to tell Mom that she's going to have someone following her around?"
Don looked over at Colby, who shrugged, "I think we're sending the pregnant woman in."
"You would sacrifice your pregnant daughter to my mother's wrath?" Maggie looked incredulous.
David shook his head at their teasing and said quietly, "Maggie, chill. We need to get the teams together and see who's available for what duty. Don't forget, all the teams have heavy caseloads and we still have to catch the perp who gunned Darren down."
"I thought we could start Felton and his new team out on the protection detail, since they don't have a caseload yet," Colby said thoughtfully.
Maggie sighed, she knew her father wasn't going to budge about taking on the investigation, "Siti and Mei could start following Mom around. They both have martial arts experience and they look like they could fit in."
-----
Much to Maggie's surprise, her mother didn't protest at all about having a couple of agents follow her around. Robin smiled at her daughter a little ruefully, "It's not the first time, unfortunately. And better safe than sorry, don't you think?"
Maggie nodded, "Siti and Mei will be your day detail. We'll pull some other agents today to relieve them. Night detail at the house will be a larger group of agents."
"Because of Dad," Robin said softly, worry darkening her eyes.
"It's going to be alright, Mom," Maggie said gently. "Dad's got this off-the-wall idea that he and his old team would investigate this threat."
"Why is it off-the-wall? They had the highest conviction rate in the country."
"It's just been so long ago!" Maggie protested.
Robin only smiled. She knew Don better than Maggie did.