“That, I believe.”
He glanced down the hallway.
“Can I come inside?”
“No.”
“Fair enough.”
“What does forty-two mean?”
His eyes returned to hers.
For once, there was no trace of arrogance.
“Not out here.”
“Then leave.”
“Grant.”
“Lieutenant.”
“Daniel Reyes said your name before he disappeared.”
Olivia stopped.
Ryan saw the reaction.
“He knew me?”
“Not personally.”
“How did he know my name?”
“He had a file.”
“About me?”
“About a lot of people.”
Olivia removed the chain.
Ryan stepped inside.
She locked the door behind him.
He remained standing.
“Start talking.”
Ryan rubbed the back of his neck.
“Reyes was one of my closest friends. We went through an advanced course together two years ago. Best navigator in the group. Calm under pressure. Never failed a physical requirement.”
Olivia nodded.
“Then what?”
“He challenged an evaluation.”
“What kind?”
“A decision exercise. The written order conflicted with live information. Reyes changed the plan.”
“Was he right?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
“Because everybody survived the scenario.”
Olivia watched him closely.
Ryan continued.
“His evaluator wrote him up as resistant to authority.”
“One assessment doesn’t destroy a career.”
“It didn’t. Six assessments did.”
“Same evaluator?”
“Different ones.”
Olivia understood.
“Coordinated.”
Ryan nodded.
“Reyes started digging. He found other candidates who had questioned instructions and suddenly received the same descriptions. Impulsive. Resistant. Unstable under command pressure.”
“The seven names.”
His expression shifted.
“You know about them.”
“That’s why I came here.”
Ryan let out a quiet, humorless laugh.
“Then Shaw finally did something.”
“Careful.”
“I am being careful.”
“No. You’re in my quarters after midnight implying a colonel is involved.”
“I didn’t say she was involved.”
“You implied it.”
“I said she finally did something.”
Olivia folded her arms.
“Forty-two.”
Ryan looked toward the window.
“Reyes found that number attached to restricted evaluation records.”
“A file number?”
“That’s what I assumed. Then he found forty-two names.”
Olivia felt a chill.
“Candidates?”
“Operators. Instructors. Officers. Most of them shared one thing.”
“What?”
“At some point, they made a decision that contradicted a superior officer and turned out to be correct.”
Olivia stared at him.
Ryan reached slowly inside his jacket.
Her hand moved toward the small defensive tool attached beneath her desk.
Ryan stopped.
“Relax.”
“Take your hand out slowly.”
He withdrew a folded sheet of paper.
He laid it on the desk.
A photocopy.
Forty-two names.
Olivia scanned them.
Some meant nothing to her.
Others she recognized.
She reached the bottom.
Her breath caught.
GRANT, OLIVIA M. — ACTIVE REFERENCE
She looked up.
“Where did this come from?”
“Reyes.”
“When?”
“Six months ago.”
“And you waited until tonight?”
“He told me not to trust anyone until a specific condition happened.”
“What condition?”
Ryan’s eyes briefly dropped toward her hands.
Then returned to her face.
“He described a woman.”
Olivia remained silent.
“Blond hair. Quiet. Never wears jewelry during training. Favors her left hand when establishing wrist control. Doesn’t celebrate after winning.”
“That describes thousands of people.”
“He also said she would probably put me on my back before I understood what was happening.”
Olivia stared at him.
Ryan gave a tiny smile.
“Apparently he knew you pretty well.”
“No. He didn’t.”
“That’s what worries me.”
Olivia looked again at the paper.
Her own name.
Active reference.
“What did Reyes call this?”
“Forty-Two.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Alive?”
“I don’t know.”
“When did you last talk to him?”
“Four months ago.”
May you like
“What did he say?”
Ryan’s remaining confidence disappeared.
“He told me if anything happened to him, I had to wait.”
“For me?”
“For somebody who could understand what he had found.”
Olivia looked at her name again.
“Why humiliate me in the gym?”
Ryan winced.
“You think that was humiliation?”
“You attempted it.”
“I needed everyone to believe I thought you were nobody.”
“So you insulted me.”
“I’m convincing.”
“You’re irritating.”
“That too.”
Olivia pointed at the photocopy.
“And putting my name on the pairing board?”
Ryan became still.
She noticed.
“You did it.”
He met her gaze.
“I changed the matchup.”
“Why?”
“Because Reyes left another instruction.”
Ryan reached inside his jacket again.
This time Olivia did not stop him.
He unfolded a second page.