Chapter 2
I slowly knelt.
The tile was cold through one knee.
I reached for the spoon first because it was closest.
Before my fingers closed around it, Cole moved.
His boot came down on the spoon.
Deliberate.
Heavy.
The metal bent slightly under his sole.
A few soldiers inhaled at once.
He smiled.
“You should learn your place before someone teaches it to you.”
I looked up from the floor.
“At least I don’t hide behind rank to bully people.”
The mess hall froze completely.
Cole’s smile disappeared.
For three days, I had watched him from the edges of that base.
Watched him bark at privates until they shook.
Watched him mock a cook for having a limp.
Watched him put his hand on a female corporal’s shoulder and squeeze too hard when she tried to walk away.
Watched everyone see it.
Watched no one stop it.
That was why I was there.
Not because of a tray.
Not because of breakfast.
Because Lieutenant Ryan Cole had turned a training company into a place where good soldiers lowered their eyes.
Cole leaned closer, keeping his boot on the spoon.
“You want me to have you thrown off this base?”
His voice dropped low.
Personal.
Threatening.
The kind of threat he had probably used a hundred times before.
Always in corners.
Always near people who could not afford to be brave.
I stood slowly.
The cafeteria seemed to shrink around us.
I wiped coffee from my sleeve with my thumb.
Then I looked him straight in the eyes.
May you like
“You just threatened a witness in an investigation.”
For the first time, Lieutenant Cole blinked.
