“Senior Chief Hale,” he said, his voice carrying across the lounge, firm but not loud. “Never thought I’d see you in a civilian airport.”
The room froze. Phones lowered slowly. Heads tilted. People started whispering. Grayson returned the salute reluctantly.
“Just heading home, sir,” he said.
The senior chief’s gaze drifted to Vega. He let out a soft exhale that could have been a laugh, but it carried awe instead. “Still on duty, huh?” he murmured.
Melissa’s confidence collapsed quietly. Her authority had been based on rules, not on understanding. And now, she realized, she had been confronting a veteran whose experience dwarfed the confines of any policy manual.
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