Chapter 9 - THE UNBROKEN PATTERN
Amelia stood up.
The movement was so smooth that the steel legs of her chair didn't scrape against the floor. She did not look at Mercer. She did not look at Rhodes.
She picked up her untouched meal tray in both hands, holding it level against her waist.
"Senior Chief," Amelia said softly, her voice cool and steady as ice.
Rhodes instantly snapped his heels together, coming to a rigid, perfect attention—a reaction so fast and instinctual that two young operators near the pillar gasped aloud.
"Ma'am," Rhodes replied, his eyes fixed straight ahead.
"Ensure this facility's communications log for the past twelve hours is purged from the local server before twenty-two hundred hours," she said quietly, her tone that of an executive issuing a routine administrative instruction to a subordinate.
Rhodes didn't ask for authorization. He didn't ask for a written order. He didn't glance at Commander Mercer to see if his actual Commanding Officer approved.
"Understood, ma'am," Rhodes answered instantly. "It will be cleared within fifteen minutes."
Amelia nodded once—a fraction of an inch—and turned toward the aisle.
Commander Mercer stood squarely in her path, his broad frame blocking the narrow gap between the stainless-steel tables. Five minutes ago, he had used his dusty boot to stop her progression through the hall.
Now, he simply stood there, his chest heaving under his Navy uniform, his face pale, his eyes wide as he stared at the young woman holding a tray of cold rice and chicken.
Amelia walked directly up to him, stopping three inches from his chest.
She did not tell him to move. She did not raise her voice. She simply looked up into his eyes with a cold, hollow gaze that contained neither hatred nor malice—only the vast, empty indifference of an absolute authority that operated far beyond his comprehension.
Mercer’s throat moved as he swallowed dryly.
May you like
Slowly, agonizingly, his right boot slid three inches to the side, opening the aisle.
Amelia walked past him without a word, her black boots stepping cleanly over the exact spot on the gray floor where she had knelt five minutes earlier.
