Chapter 3 - Cole Wanted Pierce To Watch Him Break Somebody
Pierce did not deny sending the message.
He read it from Mercer’s phone.
Then looked at me.
“That was poorly worded.”
“No.”
His expression tightened.
“No?”
“It was perfectly worded.”
I handed the phone back to Mercer.
“You wanted to see what I would do without Adam.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Pierce glanced toward Adam.
Adam leaned against the wall several feet away.
I hated the fact that neither man could answer a question about me without checking the other one’s face.
“Look at me,” I said.
Pierce did.
“Why?”
“Because Adam’s good at making people look ready.”
Adam laughed once.
“There he is.”
Pierce ignored him.
I didn’t.
“What does that mean?”
Pierce answered.
“He was an instructor.”
“I figured.”
“One of the best I ever saw.”
Adam looked away.
“Then why are you saying that like an accusation?”
“Because he had a problem.”
Adam’s voice hardened.
“Nolan.”
“What problem?”
Pierce looked at me.
“He couldn’t let people fail in front of him.”
Adam pushed off the wall.
“That is not what happened.”
“I didn’t say what happened.”
“Then don’t start by writing the conclusion.”
They had clearly practiced hurting each other.
I stepped between the sentences.
“Not now.”
Both stopped.
That surprised me.
Good.
I turned toward Mercer.
“Why did you shove me?”
Pierce started:
“Cole will answer through—”
“Cole.”
Mercer stared at me.
“I thought you were going to make a point.”
“What point?”
“That Vale trained you better than military instructors.”
Adam frowned.
“I never said that.”
“I didn’t say you did.”
“Then where did it come from?”
Mercer looked at Pierce.
Pierce’s face hardened.
“Don't.”
Mercer continued anyway.
“Senior Chief has spent two weeks talking about instructor control.”
Pierce said:
“That applies to every block.”
“I know.”
Mercer looked at me.
“The last class went badly.”
“How?”
“Too many people failed the first evaluation.”
“And?”
“My section got questioned.”
There.
Not philosophy.
Fear.
Mercer was being evaluated too.
If trainees did poorly, somebody above him wondered whether the instructor owned the room.
He heard that.
Then saw my file.
Smaller trainee.
Civilian coach.
Coach connected somehow to Pierce.
An easy opportunity to prove control.
“You chose me because you thought I was safe to embarrass.”
His face tightened.
“Yes.”
“Why Tyler?”
“He’s the biggest.”
“Exactly.”
Mercer looked ashamed now.
Not enough to erase anything.
Enough to see the line.
“I wanted the room to see that training here mattered more than whatever you learned outside.”
“That’s not instruction.”
“No.”
“What happened after Tyler went down?”
His eyes moved away.
“People looked at me.”
There.
“And you hated that.”
“Yes.”
“So you entered.”
“Yes.”
“To teach me?”
“No.”
“To get the room back.”
Long pause.
“Yes.”
Pierce closed his eyes.
Mercer looked at him.
“Don’t do that.”
“What?”
“Act disappointed like you didn’t build half the pressure.”
Pierce’s face changed.
“I did not tell you to assault a trainee.”
“No.”
“Did I tell you to humiliate her?”
“No.”
“Then own your hand.”
Mercer stared.
Then nodded.
“I do.”
That was the first thing he had said all afternoon I respected.
Pierce did not escape with it.
I turned toward him.
“What did you mean by ‘when he isn’t in her corner’?”
Pierce looked at Adam.
Again.
“Stop looking at him.”
He looked back.
“I wanted to know whether your confidence belonged to you.”
I almost laughed.
“You decided that required taking away something I didn’t know was being taken away.”
He frowned.
“I did not authorize Mercer’s behavior.”
“No.”
“That matters.”
“It does.”
I nodded toward the phone.
“This matters too.”
He knew.
The room was quiet.
Then Adam spoke.
“He used to do this.”
Pierce looked at him.
“Do what?”
“Build tests for people and never tell them what he was actually measuring.”
“That is not why we stopped speaking.”
Adam’s jaw tightened.
“No.”
I turned.
“Then why?”
Neither answered.
Mercer looked increasingly uncomfortable.
Good.
This wasn’t his room anymore.
I said:
“I’m going to get changed.”
Pierce frowned.
“We need your statement.”
“You’ll have it.”
“And the rest?”
I looked at him.
“The rest starts when neither of you gets to use me to say something to the other.”
Then I walked toward the locker room.
Mercer called after me.
“Hayes.”
I stopped.
He held out his phone again.
“What?”
“There’s another message.”
Pierce looked sharply at him.
“What message?”
Mercer scrolled.
“From last night.”
Adam went still.
I took the phone.
Pierce had sent:
If Vale shows up, do not let him onto the floor. This block is not his stage.
I looked at Adam.
He had known Pierce would be here.
Pierce had known Adam might come.
Neither had told me.
This was not a surprise encounter.
May you like
Both men had been preparing for it.
They had just prepared by arranging everybody except themselves.
