“What the hell has gotten into you?” David barked at him, reminding JT of a commanding officer he’d once had, who’d insisted on delivering every word he spoke at full volume, even if he was standing nose to nose with the person he was yelling at. “Have you gone completely out of your mind?”
JT flopped back into his seat, rubbing the back of his neck to ease some of the stress.
“I’d like to think not, but if I had, then I doubt if I’d be the best person to judge.” JT sighed. “It’s not as simple as it sounds, David. Nothing ever is.”
“Well, that sounds like a bullshit excuse for why you’ve fucked up big time!” David scoffed. “Did you not see what just happened? Hannah just quit, JT! SHE QUIT! How in God’s name did you push her that far? She loves Alpha Company with every fibre of her being. Loves the Guardians and the work they’re going to be doing. How could you push her out like that?”
“I didn’t push her out.” JT protested. “I just couldn’t give her what she wanted, which was classified information.”
“Classified?” David snorted. “What the fuck is so classified about Logan that you can’t share it with Hannah?”
“It’s not Logan that’s classified.” JT sighed. “As Hannah suspected, he suffers PTSD, brought on as a result of one specific mission that was FUBAR. But, the information about Logan’s PTSD relates specifically to what happened on the mission, and it’s the whole mission that’s classified.”
“And you couldn’t just explain that to Hannah without shutting her out?” David spluttered.
“No, I couldn’t!” JT insisted. “This was the sort of secret mission we don’t even admit to being part of. The fact that we engage in secret missions at all is itself a classified detail. It’s so far above Top Secret it’s ridiculous.”
“Then it’s the worst God-damned secret in the country. Everyone knows that those missions exist.” David sputtered. “And I have to say, I think the way you’ve handled this is horrendous. There must have been a better way of explaining it to Hannah rather than shutting her out.”
“David, I explained that Logan may have historical issues that I couldn’t discuss with Hannah because the man is entitled to some privacy. The information was given to me in confidence, with an expectation that it wouldn’t be shared with anyone else.” JT threw his hands up. “What was I supposed to do? I could justify giving it to Drew because he’s our staff counsellor, and he’s an Alpha Company director as well. He had a genuine need to know as he was giving me his professional opinion.”
David stared at him for a moment, and the look on his face told JT he wasn’t going to like what was coming.
“So, effectively, you didn’t tell Hannah what was going on with Logan because she wasn’t an Alpha Company director, or the Alpha Company counsellor, is that right?” David asked slowly.
“In a nutshell, yes.” JT nodded. “If Logan was to take legal action against us for breach of confidentiality or something like it, I couldn’t justify giving the information to another employee.”
David sat back in his seat and stared at JT for long enough to make him uncomfortable.
“Who does Logan work for?” He finally asked.
JT wondered whether this was going to be one of those trick questions.
“The Guardians?” He guessed, remembering that Claire was running the teams’ pay through the new company.
“Exactly right. The Guardians.” David nodded. “Not Alpha Company, but the Guardians.”
“And your point is?” JT asked impatiently.
“The point is that the Guardians is a fake company, set up with the backing of the Home Office for the purpose of duping the Russian traffickers.” David explained. “So, technically, it doesn’t actually have any directors. It just has ‘Operational Agents’ who carry out the tasks we need them to undertake.”
JT stared at David, waiting for him to continue.
“So, while your name might appear on the headed notepaper of Alpha Company, which puts you in charge there, in the Guardians team, the boss is technically the person with operational seniority.” David shrugged. “I’d say that puts Hannah at the top of this particular organisation, wouldn’t you? She’s probably the one person on this whole mission that we couldn’t do without.”
JT’s mind raced, trying to take in everything David was saying.
He’d automatically assumed that he would be in charge of operations, as that was the way they’d always worked things in Alpha Company, despite the fact that he, Danny, Luke, and Matt were equal partners. That was just the way they’d set it up, and everyone had always been happy with the status quo.
This… the Guardians, was new territory for them, and he hadn’t appreciated the subtle differences.
“So, you’re saying that Hannah has every right to know about whatever has been going on with Logan.” JT clarified. “And that Logan has no say in who knows about his issues.”
“I’m saying that Hannah has more rights to that information than you do, because, actually, it’s Hannah that’s responsible for the final decision as to who gets inserted into the field, and not you.” David clarified. “She is the operational leader here, and you’d better come to terms with the fact quickly, because if you can’t persuade her to reconsider her resignation, then the Guardians will be finished before they’ve had the chance to do any good. And that will be a crying shame.”
JT sat back in his chair, trying to come to terms with the change of axis. He’d never considered that the set-up would be different here to the one at Alpha Company.
Shit! How arrogant did that make him?
And he’d treated Hannah like she was an employee, like a subordinate.
Yet she was the only person David thought to be critical to the success of the team. Not JT, and not the team themselves. Just Hannah.
And he’d behaved abominably towards her!
“I’m sorry, JT. Maybe I should have explained the set-up a bit better. But I never thought for one minute that you’d assume you were in charge of the whole operation.” David shrugged. “I assumed you would realise that when we asked specifically for you and Hannah to come on board, that we’d want you as equals at least. The fact that Hannah is, well… she’s Hannah, with all the skills she brings to the table, should have made it obvious that we consider her to be our prime asset.”
JT nodded solemnly.
“I can see why you would think that.” He conceded. “It’s so obvious, I’m embarrassed to admit I didn’t think of it myself.”
“JT, don’t think that we only wanted Hannah, and not you.” David reassured him. “We need your leadership and tactical skills, just as we need Hannah’s genius.”
“You just need Hannah more.” JT wasn’t stupid, nor did he need to be flattered. “I’ll speak to Hannah today and explain the situation to her. Hopefully, she’ll accept my apology, and we’ll get her back doing what she’s best at. If I can’t get her to reconsider working with me, then I’ll step aside and get Luke to take over my role.”
David stood up to leave, and JT pulled himself up out of his chair, feeling like he’d aged ten years in the last five minutes.
“Let me know when you’ve smoothed things over with Hannah, Ok?” David looked slightly embarrassed. “I’m sorry if I’ve put you in an awkward position, JT, but this operation is bigger than anyone’s ego. Too many lives are at stake.”
“Don’t worry, I understand the situation.” JT nodded, and watched his good friend walk out of his office.
He walked to the window and took a few cleansing breaths.
He was going to have to eat a shit-load of humble pie, and, if necessary, grovel if he was going to get Hannah back on board.
More importantly, he would need to do it fast if he was going to catch her before she spoke to Danny.
JT darted out of his office, and almost ran down the corridor to the operations room. Hollywood was coming out, and he almost crashed into him.
“Is Hannah in there?” He asked, trying to look around the man-mountain.
“Nope!” Hollywood growled. “She went out for some fresh air after you upset her. Again.”
JT glanced up at Hollywood and could see the guy was pissed at him.
“Yeah, well, I need to apologise for that, and try and sort things out with her.” He admitted. “Do you know where she might have gone?”
“She said she wanted some peace and quiet. Some alone time.” Hollywood shrugged.
“Thanks.” JT turned and walked towards the elevator. There were a handful of places Hannah might have gone, and if he had to try all of them he would, but he had a feeling he knew exactly where to find her.
Time to pull his head out of his ass, and sort this fucking mess out before things got any worse.