“Not exactly,” he said, “but I’ve been around long enough to know the difference between someone who learned this job in a classroom and someone who learned it the hard way.”
I didn’t respond to that. There are conversations you can have, and then there are ones that lead to questions you can’t afford to answer.
Instead, I changed the subject, asking about the additional equipment Reeves’ team had requested. Blake filled me in, mentioning thermal optics, extended-range comms, and specialized charges—the kind of gear that suggests a mission more complex than what had been officially briefed. That only confirmed what I had already suspected.
“They’re going in heavy,” he said. “Whatever they’re after, command’s letting them bend the rules to get it.”
“Or they’re not seeing the full picture,” I muttered, more to myself than to him.
