Chapter 13 - Briggs Finally Had To Explain Himself Without Sloan
Mason Briggs asked for one conversation before the formal board began.
I almost refused.
Then agreed.
Vale sat in.
No Sloan.
No trainees.
Briggs looked smaller without a mat.
“I’m not asking you to help me.”
“Good.”
“I need to say something.”
I waited.
He looked at the table.
“Paul Carter was right about me two years ago.”
I hadn't expected that.
“About what?”
“I make examples out of people.”
“Yes.”
“I thought that was instruction.”
“Do you still?”
He hesitated.
“Sometimes.”
Better than a clean transformation.
He continued.
“I know how to get a room’s attention.”
“You humiliate one person.”
“Yes.”
“And everybody else falls in line.”
“Yes.”
“Effective.”
He looked at me.
“Usually.”
“Until?”
“Until the person becomes more important than the lesson.”
That answer bothered me.
He still saw the method as useful.
“So you think the problem is only excess.”
“No.”
He corrected himself.
“I think I don't always know when I've crossed from pressure into punishment.”
“Morning one, you knew.”
Silence.
“Yes.”
“Before you grabbed me?”
“Yes.”
“Before the three men?”
He swallowed.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought you were Paul’s message.”
“I’m not.”
“I know.”
“Now.”
“Yes.”
His hands tightened.
“He wrote that I used embarrassment because I was afraid trainees wouldn't respect me without it.”
I said nothing.
Briggs almost smiled.
“I hated him for that sentence.”
“Because?”
“Because I thought about it.”
There.
Not revelation.
A wound that lasted because it hit.
“When I saw your name, I wanted you to fail before you could decide anything about me.”
“You had never met me.”
“I know.”
“Then the complaint arrived.”
“And I thought I’d caught you.”
“No. You thought reality finally agreed with you.”
He looked up.
“Yes.”
Vale stayed silent.
Good.
I asked:
“If Sloan hadn't shown you the complaint?”
Briggs took a long time.
“I still would've been hard on you.”
“Why?”
“Carter.”
My last name.
“But not three-on-one?”
“No.”
“Not the shove?”
He hesitated.
“Probably not.”
Probably.
At least he didn't manufacture certainty.
I stood.
“Anything else?”
Briggs looked at me.
“Are you going to finish?”
“The course?”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
He nodded.
“I hope you pass.”
I stared.
“Don't.”
His face tightened.
“I mean it.”
“I know.”
“That’s worse?”
“Right now? Yes.”
Because if he wanted me to pass, the story could become his redemption.
The trainee he mistreated who proved the system worked anyway.
No.
I left.
The board removed Briggs from instructional duty pending retraining and a later fitness review for teaching assignments.
Not discharged.
Not destroyed.
Sloan received a formal reprimand, was removed from course leadership, and faced a separate review for mishandling complaints and intentionally exposing a trainee to a foreseeable confrontation.
Price was disciplined for false filings and records handling.
Jonah and Bell received consequences for identity misuse but were also protected as witnesses regarding underlying misconduct.
Pike’s withdrawal record was corrected.
Messy.
Appropriate.
Then Monroe handed me my final evaluation date.
Friday.
“Ready?”
“No.”
She shrugged.
“Good.”
I almost laughed.
Then she added:
“One thing.”
“What?”
“Vale asked whether you want him observing.”
I thought about the tower.
The boots.
The voice.
Who the hell are you?
“No.”
Monroe nodded.
“I'll tell him.”
May you like
That was the first evaluation in weeks where I knew exactly who had decided who was allowed to watch.
Me.
