Chapter 13 - Walter Did One Thing For Me I Didn’t Want To Admit
I wanted Walter simple.
I wanted him to be the senior officer who exploited an unofficial system, lied to Price, used my memory gaps, and watched Mason absorb fallout.
He had done all of those things.
Then Price complicated it.
She found me outside headquarters after Walter left.
“You know he recommended your transfer.”
I frowned.
“He approved it.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“He recommended it before your request reached me.”
That stopped me.
“When?”
“The morning after I questioned him.”
“Why?”
“He said you could no longer function objectively inside the program.”
I almost laughed.
“That sounds like him protecting himself.”
“Partly.”
“What's the other part?”
Price took time.
“He also said the unit had begun treating you like a moral authority instead of an officer.”
That sounded uncomfortably close to Mason's memory.
“And you agreed?”
“I watched soldiers bypass leaders to bring issues directly to you.”
My stomach tightened.
“Did I know?”
“You seemed to.”
“What did I do?”
“You tried to handle them.”
Of course.
“Was I good at it?”
“Sometimes.”
“That's not comforting.”
“It shouldn't be.”
Good.
Price continued:
“Walter told me removing you might protect both the unit and you from turning the protest into a permanent role.”
“And then he lied about the Circle.”
“Yes.”
“How did you live with both?”
“I didn't know the second part yet.”
Right.
“What happened after my transfer?”
“You wrote me once.”
My pulse changed.
“What did I say?”
Price looked at me.
“You asked me not to turn Walter into the only reason the Circle happened.”
I stared.
“You remember the wording?”
“Very well.”
“Why?”
“Because most people under investigation explain why everybody else mattered.”
She looked toward the training building.
“You explained why you did.”
My throat tightened.
“What did I say?”
“That you liked being early.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“You liked having the idea before command did.”
That sounded painful enough to be true.
“You liked soldiers asking you how to improve. You liked being able to identify who was ready.”
I looked away.
“And when Walter used the system?”
“You spent too long believing you could fix it without losing what you liked.”
There.
“Did I ask you to punish him?”
“No.”
“What did I ask?”
“To investigate assignment decisions.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did it go nowhere?”
“Because we found correlation and poor judgment, not a clean document saying ‘use Rachel and Mason's unofficial score.’”
Walter denied intent.
Mason's altered rating muddied data.
The roster vanished.
Participants described different effects.
Then I transferred.
Later I was injured.
Nothing disappeared magically.
The truth simply became expensive to reconstruct.
Price looked at me.
“Walter should have disclosed more.”
“Yes.”
“He should not have used your recovery to improve his position.”
“Yes.”
“He also wasn't wrong about everything.”
I hated that.
“Yes.”
Price nodded toward the parking lot.
“What are you going to do about the temporary training offer?”
“I don't know.”
“Good.”
I almost smiled.
“Everybody likes that answer now.”
“I like people who don't decide while angry.”
“Then you'll hate this unit.”
She almost smiled.
Then:
“Mason's appointment is suspended, not canceled.”
I looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because today's aggression matters.”
“Yes.”
“So does his decision eighteen months ago to stop sharing private coaching notes.”
I had not known anyone above Walter was aware.
“Did he do it voluntarily?”
“According to the timestamps and witness accounts, yes.”
“So he changed.”
“Some behavior.”
Careful.
Good.
“Dana?”
“Her actions today will be addressed.”
“She wanted truth.”
“Yes.”
“She still used soldiers without context.”
“Yes.”
No purity.
Price looked at me.
“One more thing.”
“What?”
“Walter has asked to amend his old statement before the review interviews begin.”
My stomach tightened.
“To confess?”
“To correct.”
“Difference?”
“Legally and personally, quite a lot.”
“What does he want in return?”
“Nothing that he's asked for.”
I stared toward the road where Walter's car had disappeared.
“Do you believe him?”
Price looked at me.
“That's not required for me to read it.”
Right.
Then she left.
I stood alone.
My memory had not returned in full.
Maybe it never would.
But something else had become harder to ignore.
Before the injury, I apparently already knew the version of me I was now discovering.
Ambitious.
Useful.
Controlling sometimes.
Capable of finally changing direction.
Walter had hidden parts of that woman from me.
So had Mason.
May you like
So had Dana.
But none of them had invented her.
