Then she looked back at Hale.

“No need,” she said.

The room went still.

Hale gave a short, humorless laugh.

“You come in here dressed like that, refuse to identify yourself properly, and tell me there’s no need?”

Olivia said nothing.

That silence worked under his skin.

He stepped closer.

“You’re about ten seconds from being escorted out.”

She blinked once.

“By who?”

A couple of soldiers reacted with surprised laughter.

Hale’s face changed.

Not much.

Just enough.

The kind of change that turned discipline into ego.

He leaned in slightly.

“Careful.”

Olivia’s eyes stayed on his.

“I am.”

The air tightened.

No one laughed now.

Hale turned his head toward two soldiers near the wall.

“Ramirez. Cole. Walk her out.”

The two men hesitated, only for a second.

That second was the first crack.

Olivia saw it.

Hale saw it too.

His voice sharpened.

“Now.”

Ramirez moved first.

Cole followed.

They approached Olivia like they expected her to back away.

She didn’t.

She stood with her feet shoulder-width apart, hands relaxed, breathing even.

Ramirez stopped just outside arm’s reach.

“Ma’am,” he said, softer than Hale had spoken, “you need to leave.”

Olivia looked at his hand.

He had reached toward her elbow but stopped before touching her.

Smart.

Cole wasn’t as careful.

He stepped in from the side, reaching for the strap of her duffel bag.

The movement was small.

Fast.

Wrong.

Olivia shifted.

Not dramatically.

Not violently.

Just one clean half-step.

Cole’s fingers closed on empty air.

His momentum carried him forward enough to make him stumble.

A ripple moved through the room.

Not laughter this time.

Recognition.

Hale’s eyes narrowed.

Olivia adjusted the strap on her shoulder.

“Don’t grab people you haven’t assessed,” she said.

Cole’s face flushed.

Ramirez looked down.

Hale’s pride took the hit like a spark to dry grass.

“You think you’re training us now?” he snapped.

Olivia looked around the room again.

“No,” she said. “I think you’re doing that yourselves.”

Hale stared at her.

For the first time, uncertainty flickered behind his anger.

But he crushed it quickly.

“Enough,” he said. “Out. Now.”

The silence stretched.

Somewhere outside, a truck passed over gravel. The sound faded behind the thick concrete walls.

Inside, every soldier waited for Hale to win.

They needed him to win.

Because if he didn’t, the room would have to admit something was wrong.

Hale reached for his radio.

Before he could press the button, the side door opened.