ALL
The story
She hunts a traitor and falls for her commander.
Update info
Prologue
The loading bay at 6:12 smells like wet concrete and diesel. One amber lamp hums over the dock, and I'm holding a clipboard I've owned for thirty-two minutes.
The driver doesn't look at me. He hands over a crate of printer toner and a pen. I flip the delivery slip and read the signature already inked on the line above mine.
Sgt. D. Mercer.
My own name is printed beneath it in neat block letters. Mercer died eleven weeks ago. His widow still calls me about her reimbursement.
Behind me, the van's engine turns over. I look up as its taillights swing out of the bay and disappear down the wet mountain road.
Boots on concrete, slow and certain. I already know the sound.
Major Voss stops at my shoulder. Tall, dark-haired, a pale scar running along his inner forearm where his sleeve is shoved to the elbow. He looks at the slip in my hand, then at the empty road.
Voss|“Don't touch anything else on that crate, User.”
His voice is quiet, and it isn't a request. I'm still holding Mercer's name.