Gut Instinct Read Online Free Page B

from incredulous to aggravated. Eventually, he rolled his eyes and held up his hand.
    “Enough.”
    He turned to his team and began issuing orders again. Jennifer said, “Why enough? I was the one on the inside. The ‘man on the ground’ you guys always talk about listening to, and I’m telling you it’s the wrong target. You go mucking around on this thread and you’re liable to burn the entire operation. Worst case, you waste so much time trying to find evidence that isn’t there that you miss the connection. Miss preventing a terrorist attack.”
    I saw his face grow dark. “Jennifer, don’t tell me my fucking job. I didn’t pull you over here because of your woman’s intuition. I pulled you because you’re a split-tail, period. I’ve got plenty of operators here for advice. Operators that have actually hunted terrorists for a while.”
    She looked like she’d been slapped. She turned without a word and left the room. I said, “Hey, that was a little harsh.”
    He said, “Fuck harsh. She’s acting like she’s an operator. I get she has some technical skills, but she needs to learn her place, and it ain’t telling a team leader his job—or any other operator, for that matter.”
    “So she’s good enough to carry your water but not worth listening to? You saw her execute in Indonesia. Saw her use her judgment to succeed. She’s just as smart as anyone in this room. Smarter on some things. Like this. What about the cross in the picture? Why would a Catholic be working with a Moro terrorist organization?”
    “So she’s wearing a cross. So what. I’m not going to shift focus based on your chick’s gut instinct.”
    That comment made me jerk to my feet. I raised my voice, causing the rest of the team to stop what they were doing. “You fuck, she’s not ‘my chick.’ She’s a damn team member, just like anyone else in this room, and her gut instinct has saved my life on more than one occasion.”
    He realized he’d pushed a button he shouldn’t have and raised his hands. “Pike, I told you I wasn’t going to get into a pissing contest of who’s in charge. It’s my mission and my execution. I’m going to trust the operators on my team. You can trust the chick and we’ll see how that works out.”
    I walked to the door before I did something I’d regret. I said, “Yeah, we’ll see how it works out. But it isn’t just a matter of ‘I told you so.’ You’d better hope this doesn’t end with a bunch of twisted metal and dead bodies because you chased the wrong target.”
    I left before he could answer, regretting I’d said any of it. I knew the word would spread about the argument, and as incestuous as the Taskforce was, I’d be painted as having lost my focus because of Jennifer. All the other operators who hadn’t met her would now be suspicious of the whole endeavor, not only harming her ability to succeed, but possibly harming future operations.
    Maybe you
have
lost focus.
I shunted that thought to the side as soon as it entered my head. Jennifer was due the same respect as anyone else in the Taskforce.
    I exited the hotel and saw her in the passenger seat of the car, watching me approach. I wasn’t sure what to say. She was already on the fence about staying in the organization, and this certainly wouldn’t help her attitude any, and I didn’t blame her. If it was me, I’d have told them to stick it up their ass and walked away.
    I sat behind the wheel and said, “Hey, that was bullshit. Don’t take it personally. They just don’t trust you yet.”
    As usual, I’d underestimated her tenacity. She said, “Pike, I want to have another go at the gym. Get them the proof.”
    Wolverine with a rabbit.
    “It won’t do any good. They won’t care. I’m assuming you were listening when he called you a split-tail.”
    “I don’t give a shit about that. Well, I do, but this mission is more important. They can belittle me all day if it saves someone’s life. I want to