‘Like boxing.Kickboxing.Taekwondo.Why CQC?’
‘Because in a real fight, the person in front of you won’t bow, they won’t follow rules and they won’t stay above the belt.Iamteaching you other stuff, too.Punches, kicks, balance.CQC is good because it teaches you how to use your surroundings against your opponent.It’s brutal, vicious and dirty.’Lachlan grins at Jules obnoxiously.‘Hence why I thoughtyou’dlike it.’
‘Fuck you.’
Lachlan chuckles, checks in.‘Kestrel to Control, confirm status.’
‘Eight bells, Kestrel.’
‘Seriously, why though?’
Lachlan side-eyes him.‘Truth?’
‘Always.’
‘I thought it was what you’d need the most.’
‘Why?’
‘It’s harder to put martial arts to use when someone is on top of you,’ Lachlan says bluntly.‘You can learn so much about fighting but nothing prepares you to fight when you have no space to breathe, move, can’t even draw back a fist.CQC teaches you to navigate that.Once you have it down, learn whatever else you want, but you’ll always be master of your own space and that’s what I wanted for you right from the start.’
Jules seems to read him in that way he does sometimes.
Lachlan can almostfeelit, like the brush of static.‘What?’
‘You became what you needed,’ Jules observes quietly.
‘So can you.’
?
Danya and Carrigan don’t get along.
It takes Lachlan a while to notice, mostly because Carrigan no longer operates within his security sphere in the East Wing.She’s based out of the South Wing now, in what used to be Clara and Fenwick’s territory.They still meet once a day to go over operational details, overnight reports, clearance approvals, scheduling.
He’s never reallyseenher with Danya Yashin before.
Danya knocks on the door midway through their morning meeting and Lachlan tells him to come in.Carrigan’s reaction is immediate.
One second composed, the next gone cold.
Danya barely even looks at her, only Lachlan.
‘Perimeter sensors are down in quadrant five.I sent team to investigate.Permission to switch to dark-band?’
Lachlan clocks why Danya requested the switch to dark-band in person instead of over comms.It’s never smart to announce a surveillance problem across an active channel while you’re still trying to fix it.Danya often thinks the same way Lachlan does.
‘Go ahead.Good catch.’
‘Next time wait until we’re done,’ Carrigan says without looking at him.
Danya doesn’t miss a beat, hand on the door.
‘Security comes before ceremony,’ he counters dismissively, then says to Lachlan, ‘Dark-band, four-minute check-in,’ before he leaves.
Lachlan looks at her.‘Is there an issue?’
‘He just doesn’t read right to me.’
