“You think I’m that easy to control?” I ask.
“I think you understand how bad this could get,” she shoots back.
“Yeah,” I say. “I do.”
“Then act like it.”
That lands harder than it should.
I step closer to the fence.
“You want me to act like it?” I ask, my voice dropping. “Fine. This isn’t just a missing soldier anymore. This is coordinated, controlled, and buried from both sides.”
“I know that,” she snaps.
“Do you?” I push. “Because if you do, then you know this doesn’t stop at us getting answers. This escalates. Fast.”
Her eyes narrow, her posture tightening.
“Good,” she says. “Maybe it should.”
I stare at her for a second, trying to decide if she actually believes that.
“You don’t mean that,” I say.
“I do.”
“No,” I reply, shaking my head slightly. “You mean you want the truth. That’s not the same thing.”
“Don’t tell me what I mean,” she fires back.
“Then tell me I’m wrong,” I say, holding her gaze.
She doesn’t answer right away.
That’s all I need.
“This blows open,” I continue, my voice steady, controlled, “and it’s not just command getting involved. It’s both sides. Military, political, everything layered on top of it.”
“And?” she asks.
“And people start disappearing faster,” I say. “Not slower.”
She doesn’t back down.
“They already are,” she says.
“Yeah,” I agree. “And you want to give them a reason to do it more openly?”
“I want to stop it,” she snaps.
“And you think charging straight at it does that?” I counter.
“I think doing nothing guarantees it doesn’t,” she says.
That lands.
Hard.
