Emma answered immediately.
“I’ve trained.”
“That wasn’t what I asked.”
“It was the answer I gave.”
A murmur moved through the circle.
Jake’s confidence remained.
Something else appeared beside it.
Curiosity.
He shifted his weight.
Emma did not copy him.
She only watched.
Fort Liberty’s combat gym suddenly seemed louder beyond the mat.
Gloves hammered heavy bags.
Rubber soles squeaked against flooring.
An industrial fan rattled against the far wall.
Yet the circle surrounding Emma and Jake felt completely separate.
A private near the cage leaned toward another soldier.
“Who is she?”
“Administrative support.”
“You sure?”
“That’s what I heard.”
The private looked at Emma again.
“She doesn’t look nervous.”
“Give her a minute.”
Jake heard them.
His grin returned.
“There you go.”
Emma blinked once.
“What?”
“Even they know.”
“Know what?”
“You’re in the wrong place.”
For the first time, Emma glanced around the room.
Several soldiers looked away.
Others did not.
She returned her attention to Jake.
“That matters a lot to you.”
Jake lowered his hands slightly.
“What does?”
“What they think.”
His face changed.
Only a little.
Briggs saw it.
Emma saw it too.
Jake lifted his hands again.
“You trying to get inside my head?”
“No.”
“Then what are you doing?”
“Standing here.”
The answer drew another quiet reaction.
Jake shook his head.
“You really think this calm act changes anything?”
“It isn’t an act.”
“Everybody has an act.”
Emma glanced toward the benches.
“You do.”
Jake took another step forward.
“Careful.”
Briggs’s voice cut across the space.
“Turner.”
Jake stopped.
Briggs pointed at the floor.
“Boundary stays clear.”
“I know the rules.”
“Then follow them.”
Jake exhaled sharply through his nose.
Emma remained motionless.
A younger soldier whispered, “Briggs looks nervous.”
His friend answered quietly.
“He never looks nervous.”
Briggs heard them.
He said nothing.
That silence bothered Jake more than their words.
“Why do you keep staring at her?” Jake asked.
Briggs looked directly at him.
“Because I’m supervising.”
“You supervise everybody like that?”
“When I need to.”
Jake’s smile disappeared.
Emma lowered her hands for a moment.
She retightened the tape around her thumb.
Jake watched the movement.
“So that’s it?”
Emma looked up.
“What?”
“You tape your hands, stand quiet, and everybody thinks you’re dangerous?”
“Nobody said that.”
“You want them thinking it.”
“I haven’t asked them to think anything.”
Jake laughed once.
“That might be the most arrogant thing you’ve said.”
Emma’s face remained calm.
“You asked me to come onto the mat.”
The sentence stopped him.
Several soldiers looked at Jake.
He remembered.
Ten minutes earlier, he had been demonstrating footwork near the center mat.
Emma had been crossing the gym after a conditioning session.
Jake had noticed the tape on her wrist.
He had made a joke.
Emma had ignored it.
Jake had made another.
Then another.
Finally, he had asked whether administrative soldiers ever learned anything besides paperwork.
Emma had turned around.
“I learn what I need.”
Jake had laughed.
“Then learn something here.”
She had looked at the mat.
Then at him.
“Are you inviting me?”
The soldiers around him had already started smiling.
Jake had opened both arms.
“I’m inviting you.”
Now that invitation felt different.
Jake glanced toward the same soldiers.
No one reminded him.
They did not need to.
Emma lifted her hands again.
Briggs checked the open space around them.
His voice became formal.
“Controlled contact.”
Nobody laughed now.
“No head hunting.”
Jake nodded.
“No joint attacks.”
Emma nodded.
“Stop immediately when I call it.”
Jake rolled his neck.
“Got it.”
Briggs stared at him.
“I want to hear you say it.”
“I understand.”
Briggs turned toward Emma.
“Carter?”
“I understand.”
Briggs looked between them.
Then his eyes settled on Emma again.
For one brief second, something almost like recognition crossed his face.
Jake caught it.
“What?”
Briggs’s expression closed.
“Nothing.”
There it was again.