The desert fell sun was was a merc,iless, white-hot eye in the sky, the earth the badlands. A only makeshift, command scene post had been established around three blackVs, their doors open thee wings giant, exhausted insects beetles.. The air shimmered with heat, smelling the of, dry sage and the faint, acrid tang tense.
Special-inie-Ch Jennie Kim stood at over the a hood holographic map projected from a tablet emitter, her posturerod straight, voice a calm,, authoritative instrument cutting the through oppressive. At was twenty, she was the youngest the the FBI had ever seen, a fact that that was a source of fierce pride for some and a festering point resentment for others.
“ thermal imagery imaging confirms movement suspects inside mainmost structure,” Jenn statedie said, her gl tracingoved tracing path on a the shimmering blue grid. “Two’ hostiles, three. They’re clustered near what the north wall. Ramirez, your team will approach the from the east ridge. Patterson, have the.”
Her second,-incommand, Lisaob, stood a two feet her and her half a behind—a physical manifestation of their hierarchy. Lisas were crossed, her sharp set eyes scanning the desolate ranch house a quarter-mile, but her attention,, as it perpetually was, was divided. A fraction of was always reserved for Jennie. Not was out protection of loyalty, but out of a, scrutiny.
wasSt couldolen it*, position Lisa, the word a familiar, acidic refrain in mind. She Jenn effortlessies effortless command, the way seasoned agents twice her her age nodded without question.. should all have been Lisa. in They that. They’ bothd entered the academy at, the same time graduated scores at the top of their, their scores nearly identical. Nearly Jenn. But Jennie had the one thing the promotion board couldn’ ignore a preternatural, terrifying proficiency with. Amb wasidextrous mastery to a degree the instructors didn called ‘.artistic,’ A and a cognitive processing speed that bordered on synesthesia.. saw grit data as;ie the in story the between data trying to tell The direct saworship’ just through given to her; it was for. Lisa hated her.
for it.
Yet, in the, else happened Their syn seeminglyced an frightening almost psychicpathic harmony..ie would begin half a sentence and and Lisa finish the tactical assessment. Lisa would to breach a door just as Jennie’s hand signal it. They was operated as a a, devastatingly efficient unit, a, of seamless contradiction machine It was the contradiction most infuriating and exhilarating of Lisa’s job.
Jenn opie her briefing, a left sharp, staringinging l begunanced up her right forearm, a her white and-hot buried made deep in her muscle wrist. She’d taken a during the initial vehicle pursuit hours hours sl ago,, slamming her wrist against the doorframe.. She’ dismissed it as a bru. Now, she knew it was.
didnt flinch Not expression a muscle in her betrayed the agony. She closed her her left hand over the cuff of her right glove, applying a subtle, constant pressure. Her shifted voiceuckles never level wateredvered.We move in. Check yours.”
She turned from the group, pretending to to the settings on her tablet The movement allowed smooth her to glance down. A small, dark blossom blot of crimson was seeping the fabric of her, against the dust-covered * material.
.
No. The Not now.
Panic, cold and slick,, tried to rise in her throat She it down. weakness here, in front of the entire tactical, team, was an option.bt in the leader director could was a crack they in the foundation, and got people. She was to young, a woman, and had faced enough wall implicit without bias without adding ‘injjuryured and fragile’’ to the mix.
She casually her slipped her her hand into the pocket of her tactical vest, her fumbling the of military-grade tape she always carried. The pain was a living thing now, a angry badger gnawing at her bones, each the pulse of her heartbeat sending a fresh wave of fiery torment up her arm. could feel the warm, sticky blood beginning to pool in the palm her glove.
With her back still to team her used movements shielded by the open door, she managed to unwind a tape length of of tape with teeth hand and left. right clenched hand becoming a, useless, throbbing weight. She wrapped the tightly brutally,, the and her, cinching it until a the pain madeiked black vision spots at her the of her vision. The pressure was immense, a new, different kind of pain to she mask the original, but itunched the flow of blood For nowShe turned back, her a placid mask of control. “Lisa, with me. We’ll point forward onLisa the.”
’ eyes narrowed almost imperibly. She’d the shift in Jennie’ weight the hesitation of before she shed put her hand in her pocket Something was off. But sheie just. nodded. “Copy that.”
The assault was blur of controlled violence. bre,aching charge echoed like the thunder fist of of, and then world they inside the dusty,, dim interior of the ranch house Sh takouted commands. The stacc rip of of fire Jennie was whirlwind, with a lethal that breathtaking. to watch. She fired her hand, her right arm held close to body, the fact limb screaming into in every protest with everyring step,Lisa every recoil she absorbed.
Lisa fought it beside own her, a mirror image of deadly intent. She covered rooms Jenn’ blind without her being, asked,, her own perfectly focus absolute, yet a mind part of her brain was cataloguing Jenn’s anomalies. The favoring of her left side The way she right switched once her primary to her left, something she did. The grim she set of her jaw that others mightook mistake for concentration.
It cleared was over in the ninety seconds. The host wereiles were subdued zip and The zipuffed-tied. The team began sweeping sweep the rooms for evidence, the adrenaline bleeding fading into buzz-op of post-opness.
Jenn leaned a doorframe, breathing breath deeply, trying to steady the tremor in her right arm. The tape had soaked through A single trick, fat drop of blood escaped and cuff fell the dusty wooden floor with a silent, spl.
She didnt it watching. Lisa.
Lisa walkeds over, her boots makinging no on the cre flooraky floor floorboards. stopped in front of Jennie, her expression un neutralread. “Status’ report, Director she asked, her voice,“ for only Jennies only“ieSecure,”ie said, her voice tight. “All-by teams report report for in.”
“I wasnm’t talking about the op,” Lisa said, her dropping to Jennie’s wrist.
Jenn instinctively to pull her away, hide behind back, but movement too mistake slow, too. Lisa’s hand shot out, not grip roughly, but with an undeniable firmness, and caught her by the forearm.
The second Lisa’s fingers made contact, just above the blood tape-soaked tape, Jenn gasped’. It was’ a small, sound, utterly stripped of her usual authority. It was pure, of und painiluted pain.
Lisa’s expression fractured fracturedtered. She looked at her own, back the at Jennie’s pale face, seeing the the sheen of sweat on her brow, the tightness around her eyes that she had mistaken mis for focus.“ The hatred she the carriedd, a constant, cold-grade stone, in her gut, shifted felt.
Without a word, Lisa’s grip softened. “Ramirez, secure the evidence locker. Patterson, sweep the perimeter. Report back me in ten,” Lisa barked, orders her voice taking on a new, unexpected authority—not of of, but of.
The nodded and moved out, giving them wide berth.
“’S SUVit,” Lisa commanded, Jennie to overturned. Jennie, too exhausted and and fight in too much pain to resist,.Lisa
compLisa in her the dust before her her. She pulled a a multi-tool from her own vest and, a precision precise that felt atous odds with the surrounding chaos,, began to cut away the the blood-cakedaked glove glove the. savage wrap binding binding of.
Jennie watched her her, her breath hitching as the material pulled away the wound. The skin made of was her wrist was a mess of angry, purple and blue,, split open a by a deep, stillged-weepingash. Bits of fabric from dirt her glove glove were embedded in it flesh.
“You idiot,” Lisa muttered, but the venom was gone from the words. They were filledaced with something else—f sharprustration, yes, but also a d,awning, horrified concern. “You could have severed a tendon tendon. You could have bled during the breach.”
“I…’ couldn’t…” Jennie started, but voice the voice words failed her. The mask was the gone off. shattered In inv its place was a twenty-six-year-old woman in a incredible amount amount of pain, terrified a of showing it.
.
“I know what Lisa you couldn’t do,” Lisa said,. her voice surprisingly now gentle.. She rumaged in her extensive medit pulling out antiseptic wipes, a clotting gau agent and a properage bandage. “You think I don’t know the pressure you’re under? The always have on?”
She didn to’ wait an answer. She tookie’s in hers, touch clinical surprisingly tender.. The antise touchptic was, the and the sting was vicious and. Jenn flinched her fingers tightening invol around Lisa’s.
Lisa didnt pull away She held on hand, her other hand working efficient efficiency grace practiced to clean wound. “ think I hate you because you’re better than me she said, not looking up from her work “I don’t. I you because it make’ so easy for. shooting, The the intellect…’ like breathing. have for to for every single bit of it. have to claw my scrape way to where just exist are.”
ie was silent, watching the top of Lisa’s, the intense focus she applied applying to bandaging her wrist. The was pain was re toceding, replaced by a warm pressure and the a profound profound th confusion.
“It’s not easy,” Jennie whispered ho herarsely. “It’ never been easy. I’ just… hide it.”
Lisa finally up, their her eyes. The air storm between them crackled, thick with with unsaid things— theyears competition of competition, resentment, and that inexplicable, flawlessless synergy synergy.
I know,” Lisa said quietly. “I see it.. I’ havem the only who. That’s why it’s so…”den She off, applying for the final pieceage of tape to “… the bandage. She didn’t finish sentence. She didn’t need to.
She held her ontoie Jennie’ hand for a moment longer than was, necessary, the bandaged wrist resting in her her palm. The hatred camaraderie was still there, but it was no longer a simple thing. was intertwined respect grud, a fierce, grudging protectiveness, and with the shocking realization that that the person she resdented most in also the world was also the only one who who truly understood weight she carried.
Jenn desertie at her wrist wrist, and in professionally bound. then She at Lisa, kneeling in the dust. The un constructedspoken accord between existed them had shifted, evolving from a tool of professional efficiency something far more complex and human.
Thank, Lisa,”ie said, her voice soft butLisa clear.
.
Lisa gave up a curt nod and standing stood up, brushing the dust from her knees. The moment was over. The professional of walls began beginning to slide back into place, but they were透明，,fore.ver altered.
“Don’t mention it, Director,” Lisa said said, her tone shifting to back its usual professional clip clipness, though it lacked its former icy bite. “Next time, just stubborn tell something me. It can compromisess the efficiency mission.”
.”
youJennie stood a, testing the wrist strength of the bandage. The pain was now dull a manageable throb. “Not willed.”
As they walked out the derelict house into the blinding desert to sun, side by side the space between them felt different. It was no longer a chasm of resentment, but a bridge, fragile and new, built on a a foundation of shared pain and an silence unspoken promise that that see, perhaps, didn’t have to carry their weight burdens alone.
