“But you knew.”
Briggs finally stepped away from the equipment rack.
He walked toward the mat.
“I knew enough.”
Jake waited.
Briggs stopped beside Emma.
“That’s all you need to hear right now.”
Jake’s frustration returned.
“Why?”
“Because this stopped being about Carter’s background twenty minutes ago.”
Jake frowned.
“What is it about?”
Briggs looked around the gym.
Several younger soldiers straightened automatically.
He noticed.
“Soften up.”
A few shoulders lowered.
Briggs looked back at Jake.
“This is about what you did before you knew anything about her.”
Jake said nothing.
“You saw her job.”
Briggs pointed toward the mat.
“You saw her clothes.”
He gestured toward the watching soldiers.
“You saw an audience.”
Jake’s jaw tightened.
“And you decided all three things gave you permission to make her smaller.”
Emma remained quiet.
Briggs continued.
“That’s the problem.”
Jake stared at the floor.
Briggs’s voice stayed steady.
“If Carter had never trained a day in her life, your behavior would still have been wrong.”
Nobody moved.
“If she had stepped off that mat immediately, you still would have been wrong.”
Jake swallowed.
“If she had been nervous, you still would have been wrong.”
The words stripped away the excuse Jake seemed to be searching for.
Emma understood why Briggs had waited.
If he had revealed anything earlier, Jake could have blamed ignorance.
He could have told himself respect became necessary only because Emma possessed hidden ability.
Briggs was refusing him that escape.
Jake looked toward Emma.
“So this was planned?”
Emma shook her head.
“No.”
Briggs answered too.
“No.”
Jake looked between them.
“You expect me to believe that?”
Briggs folded his arms.
“I expected you to conduct a controlled session professionally.”
Jake gave a quiet laugh.
“And when I didn’t?”
“I watched.”
“Why?”
“To see whether you would correct yourself.”
Jake looked toward Daniels.
The specialist held his gaze.
Jake turned back.
“I didn’t.”
“No.”
Briggs’s answer held no cruelty.
That made it heavier.
Jake looked at Emma.
“You knew he was watching?”
“I knew he was standing there.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Emma thought about it.
“I knew he wasn’t stopping you.”
Jake waited.
“So I assumed he had a reason.”
Briggs almost smiled.
Almost.
Jake caught it.
“There.”
Briggs raised an eyebrow.
“What?”
“You two definitely know something I don’t.”
Emma exhaled.
Daniels shifted beside the bench.
The tension had changed shape.
It was no longer hostile.
It had become curiosity.
Jake picked up one glove and turned it in his hands.
“I want the answer.”
Briggs looked at Emma.
Emma met his eyes.
Nothing was spoken.
Jake noticed the exchange.
“So that’s permission?”
Emma shook her head.
“That is Briggs deciding whether your curiosity matters more than my privacy.”
Jake looked embarrassed.
“Fair.”
The word came quietly.
Emma studied him.
That answer sounded different from everything he had said earlier.
No performance.
No volume.
No audience.
Just acknowledgment.
Briggs seemed to notice too.
He walked toward a small cabinet near the cage.
Jake watched him.
Briggs opened it.
He removed a plain training folder.
Nothing dramatic.
No medals.
No framed photographs.
No mysterious case.
Just paperwork.
Jake stared at it.
Emma’s expression tightened.
“You kept that?”
Briggs looked at her.
“I keep training documentation.”
Jake turned toward Emma.
“You knew he had that?”
“Apparently.”
Briggs thumbed through several pages.
He stopped.
Then he closed the folder.
Jake frowned.
“You’re not showing me?”
“No.”
“Why bring it out?”
Briggs tucked it beneath one arm.
“To make a point.”
“What point?”
Briggs looked at the soldiers.
Then at Jake.
“You assumed the important information was visible.”
Jake’s face changed.
Briggs tapped the folder once.
“It wasn’t.”
Emma looked down.
The room remained completely still.
Jake slowly nodded.
“Okay.”
Briggs raised an eyebrow.