Chapter 4 - Luis Remembered Me Better Than I Did
I found Luis Alvarez outside the administrative building.
He was sitting on a concrete bench, eating from a paper container.
He saw me coming.
Didn't stand.
Didn't salute.
I preferred that.
“Sergeant.”
“Ma'am.”
“Can I sit?”
He shrugged.
“Bench belongs to the government.”
I sat.
For thirty seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then:
“Mason says you warned me about the Circle.”
Luis took another bite.
“Yes.”
“What did you say?”
“That people were treating the board like a real ranking.”
“And what did I say?”
He chewed.
Swallowed.
“You want exact?”
“Yes.”
“You said, ‘Nobody gets punished for an unofficial score.’”
My stomach tightened.
“Were they?”
“Yes.”
“Did I know?”
“Not when I first told you.”
Important.
“When did I know?”
Luis looked at me.
“That depends which version of you we're discussing.”
“I only have one.”
“Must be nice.”
I let that pass.
He continued:
“At first, you thought we were paranoid.”
“Then?”
“A month later, Mason found out two assignment recommendations matched the Circle rankings almost perfectly.”
I looked toward the building.
“Walter.”
Luis did not answer.
“He was using them.”
“Yes.”
“Did I confront him?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“You came back and told us there was no proof.”
I laughed softly.
“Did I believe that?”
“I think you wanted to.”
“What does that mean?”
Luis set the container beside him.
“You had just been selected for an instructor-development slot.”
I stared.
“Because of the Circle?”
“No one told you that.”
“But?”
“You were ranked at the top.”
I looked away.
Of course.
“And I stayed.”
“For a while.”
“How long?”
“About three months.”
That hurt more than I expected.
“What did I do during those months?”
“Changed the rules.”
“How?”
“More anonymous feedback. No public bottom category. People could opt out.”
“Did that help?”
“Some.”
“Did Walter stop using the information?”
“No.”
“Did I know?”
Luis looked directly at me.
“Yes.”
There was my part.
I stared at the parking lot.
“Why did you keep coming?”
He laughed once.
“Because the same system hurting me was also the best coaching I had.”
Messy.
Good.
“I hated the board.”
He looked down.
“I liked training with you.”
“Both.”
“Yeah.”
“Why did you salute two years ago?”
Luis's expression changed.
“We're not there yet.”
I almost smiled.
“Everybody keeps saying that.”
“Maybe because you're sprinting through two years in one afternoon.”
Fair.
“Then tell me one thing.”
“What?”
“Did I expose Walter because you asked me to?”
“No.”
That surprised me.
“Why then?”
Luis rubbed his thumb along the paper container.
“Someone else got hit.”
“Physically?”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“Career.”
“Who?”
“Specialist Nia Brooks.”
Name meant nothing.
“What happened?”
“She was one of your strongest people.”
“Then?”
“She opted out of the Circle.”
“And?”
“Six weeks later, a formal recommendation described her as ‘inconsistent under pressure.’”
Same language as our scoring category.
My stomach turned.
“Walter copied it.”
“We couldn't prove it.”
“Did Nia complain?”
“Yes.”
“To me?”
“Yes.”
“What did I do?”
Luis looked at me for several seconds.
“You defended the program.”
I closed my eyes.
“Why?”
“You thought one bad recommendation shouldn't destroy something helping ten other people.”
That sounded like an argument I would make.
I hated it.
“What changed?”
“She asked you a question.”
“What?”
Luis looked toward the training building.
“She said, ‘How many people have to lose something before you stop calling the system helpful?’”
A flash.
A young woman standing beside a locker.
Hands shaking with anger.
Me looking at the floor.
Then another image disappeared before I could identify it.
Luis noticed.
“You got something?”
“Maybe.”
He nodded.
No pressure.
“Was the salute after that?”
“Yes.”
“Who designed it?”
He almost smiled.
“You.”
Mason had said I built the Circle.
Now Luis was telling me I built the thing used to expose it.
“What did it mean?”
Luis looked at me.
“You really don't remember.”
“No.”
He considered.
Then stood.
“Come tomorrow morning.”
“Where?”
“Change-of-command rehearsal.”
“Why?”
His face hardened.
“Because the speech Colonel Hayes is giving includes Nia's story.”
“What does he say?”
Luis picked up his food.
“That he discovered the problem.”
My anger shifted toward Walter.
Luis added:
“Before you decide he's the only liar, ask Mason what you told him to do with the names after the salute.”
He walked away.
I stayed on the bench.
Three separate people had now pointed me toward Mason.
May you like
Not because Mason knew what Walter did.
Because Mason knew what I did next.
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