I document water levels, check speaker functionality, note bird activity in my tablet. Routine work that grounds me after days of fear and threats and explosives. This is what I do. This is what I'm good at. Preventative measures that save lives.
Footsteps squelch through marsh grass behind me.
I turn, expecting a security patrol or maybe Devlin tracking me down for going alone. But the figure approaching through the dimming light wears maintenance coveralls and moves with purpose toward my position.
Master Sergeant Brad Hutchins stops fifteen feet away, close enough to be heard over the wind but far enough that I'd have to cross uneven ground to reach help. His expression is cold,controlled, nothing like the rage I saw when I shut him down at the safety briefing.
"Miss O'Rourke." His voice is pleasant, professional. "Working late?"
"Routine survey." I keep my tablet between us like a shield. "Captain Nelson said you were in interrogation."
"Released an hour ago. Insufficient evidence." He takes a step closer through the wet ground. "Funny how that works. Security footage shows someone in maintenance coveralls, but half the base has access to those. Anonymous tips about my supposed resentment of civilian contractors, but nothing concrete. Nothing that proves I did anything wrong."
My heart kicks into a faster rhythm. We're alone out here. The nearest building is a quarter mile away. Security patrols won't pass for another forty minutes.
"They'll find evidence." I take a step back, ground soft and unstable under my boots. "You made mistakes. Left traces."
"Did I?" Hutchins moves closer, casual and deliberate. "Or did I do exactly what I intended to do? Make you afraid. Make you doubt yourself. Make you realize you don't belong here."
"I do belong here." My voice stays level despite fear climbing my throat. "My work saves lives. Federal regulations mandate?—"
"Federal regulations." He spits the words like poison. "You stood in that conference room and humiliated me in front of officers I've served with for twenty years. Made me look like an incompetent dinosaur who doesn't understand basic safety protocols."
"You made yourself look incompetent when you disrupted an official briefing with personal commentary." I scan the area for escape routes. Marsh grass in every direction. Water-logged ground. No clear path back to buildings. "All I did was cite the regulations you should already know."
"All you did was prove you're exactly what's wrong with today's military." Hutchins closes more distance between us. "Civilians telling soldiers how to do their jobs. Women demanding respect they haven't earned. Contractors making more money than personnel who've dedicated their lives to service."
"I earned my position through education, experience, and results." My back hits the habitat barrier, solid wood blocking retreat. "Forty percent reduction in bird strikes. Millions of dollars in prevented damage. Lives saved because pilots don't have to deal with catastrophic engine failure."
"And that's supposed to make up for everything else?" Rage bleeds through his controlled facade now. "Make up for watching less qualified people get promoted because of quotas? Make up for seeing the military I love turn into something soft and weak? Make up for women like you taking jobs that should go to real soldiers?"
He's close enough now that I can see broken blood vessels in his eyes, smell coffee on his breath. Close enough that running means crossing unstable ground with him right behind me.
"The military is stronger because of diversity." I grip my tablet tight enough that my knuckles ache. "Research shows?—"
"Research shows jack shit about what happens when standards drop to accommodate people who can't hack it." Hutchins grabs my arm, fingers digging into flesh through my jacket. "You want to know why I did it? Why I broke into your cottage and moved your things? Why I left you that magazine to find? Why I wired an IED to your ignition?"
"Because you're threatened by competence that doesn't look like you." I try to pull away, but his grip tightens. "Because you'd rather sabotage and terrorize than admit maybe you're the one who doesn't belong anymore."
His other hand comes up fast, grabbing my throat. Not hard enough to cut off air, just enough to make breathing difficult. Enough to send fear spiking through every nerve.
"I belong here more than you ever will." His face is inches from mine now, rage barely contained behind military discipline. "Twenty-two years of service. Two deployments. Medals and commendations. And I'm supposed to take orders from civilians who've never worn the uniform? Accept that women belong in combat roles and logistics command? Watch everything I fought for get watered down to accommodate diversity initiatives?"
I claw at his hand, but his grip stays firm. My tablet falls into marsh water with a splash. "You tried to kill me because you can't handle that standards evolved past your prejudices."
"I tried to kill you because you represent everything wrong with today's military." His fingers tighten fractionally. "And because watching you leave in a body bag would send exactly the message this base needs. Women don't belong here. Civilians don't belong here. And anyone who thinks otherwise needs to learn that lesson the hard way."
"They know it's you." I gasp the words against pressure on my throat. "Security footage. Evidence. Pattern analysis. Devlin figured it out."
"Master Sergeant Porter." Hutchins' expression twists with contempt. "Wasting his talent playing bodyguard to a civilian because command ordered it. That's what's wrong with this place. Real soldiers reduced to babysitting contractors who should have stayed home where women belong."
Spots dance at the edges of my vision. His hand on my throat makes drawing full breath impossible. I grab at his wrist, try to knee him, but he anticipates and shifts his weight to pin me against the barrier.
"Nothing personal, Miss O'Rourke." His voice drops to something almost gentle, which makes it worse somehow. "You seem like a nice enough woman. But you're a symbol of everything I'm fighting against. And symbols are powerful. Your death will remind everyone that some jobs aren't meant for civilians. Some spaces aren't meant for women. Some standards shouldn't be compromised."
He's going to kill me. Right here in the wetlands I've spent six months protecting, surrounded by equipment I designed to save lives. The irony would be funny if I wasn't drowning in fear and fury and desperate need for air.
A sound cuts through the wind. Distant but distinct. Barking. Not just any bark—sharp, aggressive, the kind of sound a military working dog makes when identifying a threat.
