Chapter 195: Asher
The base doesn’t look like much from the outside a few squat buildings behind wire fencing, windows that never show anything wet, Bat Peony suffer the second we get close, her posture straightening, her hands knotted in her lap.
It’s different from the world she knows. There’s no warmth in these gates. No softness in the concrete or steel.
Just rules. just weight.
We slow to a crawl at the checkpoint. One man stands by the gate, the other circles our vehicle, one hand casually resting on the rifle slong across his event. Penny’s eyes follow him, wide and unblinking.
I glance over. Her knuckles are pale against her knees.
“Hey,” I say quietly. “It’s alright. I’m with you.”
She swallows, nods. But she doesn’t look convinced,
Her voice is small. “I’ve never seen a gun before. Not in real life.”
I blink.
Never?
1
That shakes me
more than I want it to.
Because here? Guns are second skin. They hang off belts and backs and shoulders. They sleep beside us. Eat with us. They’re part of the silhouette. Every man here is carrying, and most of them are carrying more than they’re supposed to.
I don’t say all that. Just: “Get used to it.”
Then I roll down the window.
The guard steps forward. It takes him half a second to recognize me. His stance shifts immediately.
“Hayes.”
I hand over my ID. “Lieutenant Ramsey called me in.”
His eyes slide past me to Penny.
“She with you?”
“She is,” I say, voice flat. “She’s not a risk.”
There’s a beat of hesitation.
Then he nods, hands my ID back, and waves us through.
Penny exhales slowly as the gate lifts and the car moves forward. Her hand flexes once, then falls to the edge of the seat, like she needs something to grip but doesn’t want to look nervous.
“You alright?”
She nods. Then, after a second: “I think so. It’s just… intense. And this is one of the small bases?”
“Very,” I say. “Some of the ones overseas are cities. Barracks stacked on barracks. You can walk for hours and still be in the same compound.
She goes quiet again. Watching the way the base opens up in front of us
long rows of identical buildings, bright security lights casting everything in
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Chapter 195: Asher
sterile white blue.
Nothing here looks lived in.
Nothing here looks human.”
We park just outside the admin wing. I shut off the engine and turn to her before she can unbrekle.
“Stay close to
me,
alright?”
She raises an eyebrow. “Why? You think I’m going to get jumped?”
I don’t laugh. “No. I just want you near.”
She softens a little at that. “Okay.”
The second we step inside, I know I was right.
The hallway smells like bleach, sweat, old paper. The overhead lights buzz faintly. A few guys linger in the corridor, heading toward banks or out to patel The moment they see us see her the air tightens.
–
–
One by one, they stop walking.
Their eyes move to Penny. Then back to me. Then back to her.
I feel her shift slightly closer without even thinking. I press a hand to the small of her back and tug her in.
It’s not possessive.
It’s protective.
Because she doesn’t belong here not in this hallway, not under these lights. Her hair is too golden, too soft. Her eyes are too wide. Her dress is too pale. She looks like she was drawn in pencil and colored in with something warm and alive.
And these men?
They’re trained to spot weakness. Difference. Soft things.
It’s not malice. It’s instinct.
But I’ve seen what instinct looks like in a room full of tired men with nothing to lose.
They nod at me, one by one, as we pass.
“Hayes.”
“Hayes.”
“Evenin‘, Hayes.”
But their faces are off. Their expressions pulled tight..
They’re looking at me like I’m not supposed to be here.
Like I’ve walked into something already halfway over.
And I can’t tell if it’s because of who I am what they know I’ve done, what I’ve been used for Ramsey has waiting behind that door.
–
or because they’ve already been briefed on whatever
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Chapter 195: Asher
And I haven’t.
My pulse ticks a little faster.
Penny notices.
She doesn’t say anything, but her fingers graze mine. Just barely.
And I wonder not for the first time
it I made a mistake bringing her here.
Not because I don’t want her near.
Because I do,
But I don’t want her to see this version of me.
The one built for silence and orders and blood.
The one who walks into rooms full of soldiers and makes everyone else go still.
I squeeze her hand once before we reach the office door.
Whatever’s waiting for me on the other side of it – it better be worth interrupting the only peace I’ve known since I got home.
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