Chapter 4 - THE COURSE WAS NEVER NEUTRAL
Kowalski denied moving anything.
Graves supported him immediately.
He said heat exhaustion affected perception and suggested I was inventing sabotage because I wanted special treatment after struggling under the heavier pack.
Callahan interrupted.
“She saved me.”
Graves turned on him.
“You drifted because you ignored hydration instructions.”
“The marker pointed me there.”
Morrison photographed the ground before Graves could order the lane cleared. He also collected the marker’s location from the course tracker.
That evening, I opened my father’s notebook.
Several pages described unexplained marker changes during an earlier trial. Ethan had recorded three injuries over two years—each involving trainees Graves considered weak, politically inconvenient, or embarrassing to his completion statistics.
The official reports blamed fatigue.
Ethan believed Graves had quietly altered lanes to increase washout numbers and make the course appear more selective.
A private defense contractor funded the program. Higher failure rates helped justify larger training budgets, more instructors, and new equipment.
My father had written:
Graves does not need anyone seriously injured. He only needs them frightened, lost, or medically removed before completion.
The final pages were missing.
They had been torn out cleanly.
I remembered Graves opening my pack at lunch.
He had not only added weight.
He had searched it.
When Morrison came to my quarters that night, I showed him the notebook.
He stared at the diagrams for a long time.
“Your father trained me during my first instructor certification.”
“You knew him?”
“He was the one who taught us never to trust a marker without reading the terrain.”
“Did he report Graves?”
Morrison looked toward the door.
“He tried.”
The complaint disappeared before an external review could begin. Ethan’s contract was not renewed. His final personnel file described him as increasingly unreliable during illness.
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Graves did not merely fear what I might do in the trial.
He feared what I might have brought with me.
