Chapter 7 - Warcom Wants Her Report
Morrow stopped beside Riley first. Not Kael. Not Delaney. Riley.
“Can you continue?”
Riley wiped her mouth again. “Yes, sir.”
“You need medical?”
“After the report.”
Morrow’s face tightened, but he nodded. He knew better than to perform concern for the benefit of a crowd. Real authority did not need theater.
Then he turned to Kael.
“Warcom wants her report.”
Kael’s confidence broke in stages. First the eyes. Then the jaw. Then the shoulders, just slightly, as the meaning settled in. Riley had not come to prove herself to him. She had come to evaluate the program. Him included.
“She provoked an instructor,” Kael said.
Morrow looked at Webb. “Did she?”
Webb answered without hesitation. “No, sir.”
Morrow looked at Delaney.
Delaney swallowed. Pride fought with truth and lost. “No, sir.”
One by one, the others confirmed what happened. Riley had demonstrated. Kael had escalated. Riley had warned him. Kael had struck her.
Morrow opened the folder. “Senior Chief Damon Kael, pending review, you are relieved of instructional authority over this evaluation cycle.”
Kael stared at him. “You can’t do that in front of my men.”
Morrow’s voice went colder. “You hit a consultant in front of your men.”
No one looked away now.
That was the second sign Kael had lost them.
May you like
Not because he was punished.
Because they were willing to see it.
