Page 5 of Operation: Defiance

My lips curve into a frown. “That depends. Does it repeat?”

She picks at a piece of lint on her sleeve. “Yes.”

“Then you document it,” I say, my voice even. “Carefully. Don’t escalate until you’re certain, and make sure whatever you write down is defensible.”

Tessa nods slowly, not quite meeting my eyes. I’m about to ask her what she found when she pops up from the chair.

“Thanks, Raine. I should get back to work.” She plucks a mint from the small jar on my desk and heads down the hall.

I return to my own queue.

Half an hour later, the contractor ID shows up again, this time attached to a field op in Barcelona. That’s not possible. No one can be on site in Seattle and halfway across the world simultaneously. I check the activity log. All the timestamps are blank. Not redacted. Blank.

Contractors don’t teleport. Every assignment has to log arrival and departure time. It’s a rule no one violates.

I open a private note. It isn’t something I’ll send. Not yet. Just a scratch pad I keep on my laptop to help me organize my thoughts. I enter the contractor ID and the codes for all three ops it's linked to. No conclusions. I don’t know enough yet.

As I type, a memory surfaces unbidden.

A debrief from years ago, back when I was still in the field. The final report listed our team as “on location” for six hours. We’d been there for twelve. I pressed my handler to correct the discrepancy. A week later, I was sent back to Seattle for two days of training on “proper escalation procedures.”

That taught me something important.

Not every mistake warrants formal documentation.

I save the note and move on.

My system lags, blank fields taking several seconds longer than usual to populate. A resource allocation column fills with a code I don’t recognize, then clears again. Odd.

But it resolves itself in the next breath, and I finish the last of my assignments without issue. By the time I log off, the floor is quieter, the building settling into its after-hours hum.

I pack up, sling my bag over my shoulder, and pause with my hand on the light switch.

Monday, I’ll pull the archived activity logs tied to that contractor ID. Just to confirm the scope of the problem.

I don’t like unanswered questions.