Remember what Shannon said about questioning him, Eli. He would allow questions, but not the sort that undermined his decisions or conclusions. Eli's fit of self-esteem issues was treading dangerously close and Shannon made note to work on training that vocalization out of him. It would be the first step to erasing the thoughts themselves and getting Eli to actually grow up into his talents.

There was an amused scoff from the back seat at the assessment. "Good. You've got that. So if you understand how I tend to operate, what makes you think I would even bother with someone who wasn't worth putting the time into? I wouldn't. Now focus on what we talked about on the street instead."