Tilted his head slightly. “Lieutenant,” Reynolds said without turning.
Melvin smiled faintly. “You cheating?”
Reynolds glanced back. “No, sir. Just getting better at noticing things.”
Melvin stepped inside. “Looks steady.”
“Feels steady,” Reynolds said.
That alone would have been impossible a few weeks ago.
Reynolds wiped sweat from his forehead with a towel. His breathing stayed even. “Something weird happened earlier,” he said.
Melvin’s attention sharpened. “Weird how?”
Reynolds hesitated. “Council contact.”
Melvin straightened. “Here?”
Reynolds nodded. “Message came through the secure channel Baxter authorized. Same liaison we dealt with in New York.”
Melvin waited.
“They wanted to check on my control,” Reynolds said. “Said my file’s still under review.”
Melvin nodded slowly. That tracked. The Council didn’t let go once their hands were on a file.
“What else?”
Reynolds looked at him. “They offered me a slot.”
Melvin’s brow tightened. “Slot for what?”
“Valker.”
The word settled between them like weight.
Melvin didn’t just recognize the word. He recognized what came with it: isolation, a leash, and the kind of work you didn’t come back from clean.
“They said my record fits,” Reynolds continued. “Combat experience. Discipline. Adaptation speed. Control metrics.”
Melvin studied him. “You thinking about it?”
Reynolds shook his head almost immediately.
Too fast to be uncertainty.
“I asked what it meant,” Reynolds went on. “They said Valker handles Council enforcement. Rogue shifters. Feral cases. Supernatural threats humans can’t deal with.”
He glanced between them. “I told them no. I’m not walking away from this.”
Melvin felt a chill that had nothing to do with the air.
“Permanent assignment?” he asked.
“Mostly,” Reynolds said. “Detached units. Independent operations. Council oversight instead of Army chain of command.”
To Melvin, that sounded less like a transfer and more like disappearance.
