Page 74 of Missing Justice

“I’m officially off the case,” Taylor murmured to Matt. “But hell if I’m going to take this lying down.”

“Jesus. What the hell happened?”

You happened.

Ignoring Meredith, Taylor smacked the crime scene tape out of the way and got into her car. “Nothing I can’t handle. But trust me, Grey’s going to love this.”

* * *

“Theysuspendedyou?”

Matt sat in front of Grey’s desk with Taylor beside him, her fingers gripping the arms of her chair while the Justice Team leader’s eyes damned near exploded from his head. Add to that his face turning a violent shade of purple and whatever was going on inside him wasn’t pretty.

“Yes,” Taylor said. “I went to work this morning and they told me to hand over my badge and creds.”

“Goddamn typical.” Grey waggled one finger. “They had no intention of letting you keep this case. Should have seen that when Meredith gave you that ridiculous deadline. They wanted that asshole Leo to have this.”

“Why?”

“Who the fuck knows. They’re the FBI. They have reasons for everything.”

“Guys,” Matt said, “can we figure out a plan here? I mean, Tay, getting booted—”

Taylor gasped. “Oh, ouch, Mr. Sensitivity.”

Ach. Shit. Maybe he should think once in a while before speaking. He reached over, squeezed her ice-cold hand still clutching that chair like a lifeline. “I’m sorry. My mouth moves faster than my brain sometimes. All I meant was, you don’t need an FBI badge to keep investigating.” He whipped off a happy smile. “You can be my assistant.”

Grey snorted. “My ass. Everyone sit tight a minute.”

He scooped up his desk phone and hit a button.

Taylor watched him with a sense of awe and hero worship most men would find intimidating. Matt? Well, idiot that he was, he found it inspiring. Getting Taylor to look at him that way might be his new goal in life.

She leaned forward, set one hand on the edge of Grey’s desk. “What are you doing?”

He held up his finger. “Good morning. It’s Grey. Is he in?”

“Grey,” Taylor said, “it’s okay. Like Matt said, I can work with him. I already gave my team assignments. They have my notes. They won’t give Leo a damn thing.”

Justice kept the phone to his ear, a wry grin quirking his lips as he sat back, enjoying whatever he was about to do. “Watch the professional, Taylor. I’m exacting revenge for you. Actually, scratch that. The revenge is for me, you’re the bonus. I hate the fucking backstabbing bureaucracy. I went through it, as did Monroe, even Caroline as well. Half my team has been jerked around by assholes who earned their stripes by sucking up inside the Hoover building.”

Whoa. Justice was fired up. Based on what he’d heard so far, maybe his rejection from the FBI wasn’t a bad thing. Even if it did still sting.

“Look man,” Matt said, “don’t get crazy here. Tay can fly under the radar with me.”

“No. I’m getting crazy.” He held up his finger again. “Good morning, sir…yes, thank you. It was an interesting case. I’ll let Caroline know you’re happy.” He shot Taylor a smug look and hit her with a thumbs up. “Sir, there’s another case I have an interest in. With your permission, I’d like to get my team on it. It might coincide with another of our investigations.”

Five minutes later, after Justice laid some heavy bullshit on his boss, whoever the hell that was, and explained his history with the Jarvis case and how he’d left the Bureau before he could find Felicity, blah, blah, blah, he hung up and smacked his hands together.

“Tell me,” Taylor said, “you did not just hijack the Jarvis case.”

“Sweetheart, I just hijacked the Jarvis case. Thank me later.”

Matt laughed. Taylor wasn’t looking too thankful at the moment.

“Grey, seriously,” she said, “are you trying to get me fired?”

Mitch’s head popped around the side of the decorative screen separating Justice’s “office” from the rest of his team. “Who’s getting fired?”