Page 88 of Love at First Rep

“About eight years now. We had quite the meet cute, as you Americans like to say.”

Garrett’s brows rose. “You weren’t CIA with them?”

“No, no, we met in action. But that is long story. This team is my family now. It could be yours too, if you want it.”

“Maybe. So, do you do all the interrogations for the team?”

Anatoly bobbed his head back and forth, “Mm, mostly. Sometimes others like to get in on fun. It all depends on who is in chair.”

“You seem to have a flair for it.”

“I have skills for getting answers,” he explained, a note of bitterness in his voice as he continued. “Something I learned as a Pavlov.”

Garrett froze. He heard the name before when Anatoly introduced himself, but it had slipped his mind, until now…

“Your family name is Pavlov?”

“Yes.”

“And you have a dog.”

“Yes, Brookie,” he said. Brookie’s head lifted off the floor to peer at them from where she lay under their swinging feet.

Garrett blinked at him, then pointed at Brookie.

“So this is Pavlov’s dog?”

“Yes, that is what I said.”

“Aren’t you familiar with Ivan Pavlov and his experiments with dogs?”

Anatoly glanced at the ceiling, as if searching his brain for the nugget of information.

“No, I do not know this man.”

How did he know all the actors who played the Joker but not this?

Garrett scanned the room to see how everyone else reacted to this conversation, but they looked equally confused.

“None of you have heard of him?” he asked the room, exasperation in his voice.

A few people shook their heads, while the others gave him blank stares, and he turned back to Anatoly. “Seriously?”

“Nyet. His name does not ring bell.”

Garrett’s face fell as everyone around the room broke out in laughter, and he joined them once he figured out they were messing with him.

“Yeah, yeah, haze the new guy,” he joked.

“It’s part of the hiring process,” McHugh said, drawing more laughter.

Shaking his head, he met Rafe’s gaze. They shared a smile before Miguel drew Rafe’s attention away.

Garrett’s gaze panned the room. Everyone’s eyes were on the screens in front of Carson. They were quite the motley crew. That triggered a memory from after the interrogation. McHugh called them… something before Garrett passed out.

“McHugh,” he called out, getting the attention of the entire room except Carson, “what did you say the team is called?”

“We’re the BFS,” McHugh answered. Garrett furrowed his brows. “You know the saying about the carrot and the stick? The reward and the punishment. We are the punishment. We take care of the people who governments and bureaucracies can’t take down on their own. We are the stick that keeps the world in line.”