Federal Discipline Read Online Free PDF

someone else. So go ahead. Transfer me. I'll be your boss one day.”
    Both his brows had been raised throughout the duration of her rant. They settled when she closed her mouth. “You'll be my boss, will you?” He chuckled, and she felt a fresh rush of anger. He wasn't taking her seriously.
    She looked out the window, blinking hard so the tears of frustration making their way to her eyes didn't appear. That was all she didn't need, for him to see her cry after yelling at him. “I'll take myself back,” she said, putting her hand on the door. “Thank you for the ride.”
    The door locks clicked shut.
    She turned and looked at him with concern and confusion. “What are you doing?”
    “You're not going to run away from this discussion,” he said firmly. “You're not going to throw all that out there and then walk away. You're going to sit there and listen to me.”
    She glared at him, wishing she wasn't blinking back quite so many tears. She was sure her eyes were wet, and she was just as sure he would notice it.
    “Fine.” She bit the word out like a curse.
    “You're inexperienced and arrogant,” he said. “Like almost every single rookie that comes in. You think my objection to you is because you're a girl. That's part of it. But there's more to it than that. There's a softness about you. Yes, you're qualified and yes your pathology skills are up to par. But this job will change you. You won't drift off to sleep at night with puppies and lambs dancing in your head. You'll see the faces of the victims. You'll lose your softness and become harsh. The things you'll see, they'll make their mark on you. Forever.”
    He probably meant the speech to be cautionary. It came off as patronizing.
    “I've got my reasons for wanting to do this job, Agent Harley. And I'm not as soft as you think I am. So how about you stop worrying about preserving my alleged innocence and just do your job?”
    Jack sighed, sounding more disappointed than annoyed. “You have got to work on the way you speak to me, agent. It's halfway between petulant teenager and aggravated perp.”
    “I was perfectly polite in the beginning,” she pointed out.
    “Well you're not now,” Jack Harley responded. “If we're going to work together, that will have to change.”
    “If we're going to work together?”
    “Let's just say you've worn me down, Black,” he shrugged. “Let's see how you go. You're on probation, but I'll keep you on for the moment.”
    “Really?”
    “Really.”
    “Huh.” Jamie bit her lower lip. A strong part of her wanted to tell Agent Harley to go fuck himself, but that would be cutting her nose off to spite her face. Fact of the matter was, she wanted in on his cases. She didn't want to spend her life prosecuting people for dodging taxes, or smoking the wrong plant. She wanted to get the people who really deserved to be got. The people who needed to be got. And Harley did that.
    “ ‘Huh’? That's all you've got to say?”
    “Yeah,” she said. “I guess it is.”
    He shook his head and chuckled again. “Black, you're a pain in the ass. Let's go.”
    Back to the desk. Back to the piles of files that meant nothing at all. Jamie would rather have stayed with the pathologist. At least then she would have had something interesting to do.
    Back at the office, Jack provided her with a laptop. She noticed that it had internet connectivity, but not intranet connectivity. Probably best not to make mention of that, given the events of the morning – and given the fact she could still somehow feel the ghost of his hand against her bottom, she said nothing.
    “These are forums we monitor,” he explained, leaning over her shoulder to bring up a list of addresses. “Go have a look. See if there are any posts that could be related to this murder.”
    “People don't post about murders they've committed online, surely.” Jamie frowned at the screen. “That's... stupid.”
    “People are stupid,” Jack replied. “Criminals