Page 166 of Operation: Defiance

Chapter Thirty-Six

Raine

Next to me, Asher mutters something about how firmware updates shouldn’t take this long.

I go back into the file I’d abandoned after Inara’s call, but almost immediately close it again. I could push through it. I know that. I’m steady enough, sharp enough, that I’d be able to decode patterns rather than react to the content. But I’m also tired, and exhaustion makes me sloppy in ways I can’t afford.

If GSD has already flagged Asher’s alias as a person of interest, then our window narrowed, and I don’t get to waste the time we have proving something to myself.

After a little distance, I’ll be able to come back to it fresh.

I load the file list and scan through the names. Most are detainee logs. Mine is at the bottom. Detainee 3F-207.

Tomorrow, I promise myself. I’ll go back to it tomorrow.

At the end of the list, a handful of files break the pattern. They’re older than all the rest. One…by a lot.

“Asher? You only copied one directory?” I ask. “You didn’t poke around anywhere else?”

“Once I saw your vitals, I knew I didn’t have the time.” He runs a hand through his hair, not looking at me. “You were….in trouble.”

The way he says it—his voice flat and careful—tells me he knew how close it was.

A brief pressure tightens behind my ribs, but I breathe through it before it can spread.

“I know.” I reach over and rest my fingers briefly on his.

After a beat, he frowns. “Why?”

“Look at this.” I angle the laptop. “These three files aren’t detainee logs. The metadata doesn’t line up. They’re older. And the file names aren’t even close.”

“Old and mislabeled? That’s how you hide something you want to get lost.”

I click on the oldest one.

Continuity of Care Guidelines

The title is dry enough to be almost…comforting. But then I hear a man’s voice in my head.

“This isn’t punishment. This is care.”

I lock the memory away and start reading. The document seems to be a blueprint for what happens after someone is released from Coherent Path.

The language is exactly what I expect. Neutral to the point of anesthesia.

Sleep disruption, slowed response to instruction, and resistance to authority may indicate destabilization.

Intervention to be applied as clinically appropriate.

Appropriate to what, by whose standard, and applied by whom are never specified.

I read the first page once just to see the shape of it, then again more carefully.

The pattern is familiar. This wasn’t written to guide decisions. It was written to justify them after the fact.

Monitoring framed as care.

That’s the first lie.