Chapter 831
“Don’t do it, Caroline,” Brenna whispered, her voice tight with panic. “It’s a trap. Say you’re injured. Say anything.”
Caroline barely heard her. Her CIA training, the cold, analytical part of her brain that Jarrod had forged in fire, kicked into overdrive. She ran a rapid threat assessment.
Option A: Accept the challenge. To fight Sloane would mean revealing a level of skill far beyond that of a simple recruit. It would expose her.
Option B: Refuse the challenge. Public insubordination. It would mark her as a coward, undermine any authority she had built, and likely result in severe punishment.
Both options were disasters. It was an unwinnable game.
Just as she was about to open her mouth, to choose the lesser of two poisons and refuse, a gruff voice broke the suffocating silence.
“Instructor!”
A large, heavily muscled male recruit stepped out of the formation. Corporal Casey Walsh. He was known for two things: topping every physical fitness test and possessing the strategic thinking of a brick.
He puffed out his chest, a caricature of masculine bravado. “Fighting a woman is no challenge, ma’am. I’ll be your opponent.”
A ripple of murmurs went through the squad. Some looked at him with admiration for his courage; others, with pity for his stupidity.
Walsh turned to Caroline, his expression a condescending mix of protection and showmanship. “You can step back, Thompson. This isn’t your fight.”
Sloane watched the entire display with an air of detached amusement, one perfectly sculpted eyebrow raised. She seemed genuinely interested in this unexpected development.
She didn’t even look at Walsh. Her sharp blue eyes remained locked on Caroline.
“Well, Thompson?” Sloane asked, her voice laced with a silken, venomous curiosity. “Do you accept his ‘protection’?”
The question was brilliant in its cruelty. It pushed Caroline even further into the corner. To accept Walsh’s help was to admit she was weak, a damsel in need of rescue. To refuse it meant she had to fight. She was trapped between being a coward and being a fool.
Caroline took a slow, deliberate breath, forcing the air into her tight lungs. She let it out just as slowly, calming the frantic beating of her heart. When she spoke, her voice was perfectly level, devoid of any emotion.
“Corporal Walsh shows great courage,” she said, her voice carrying clearly across the silent field. “I respect his offer.”
It was a masterful deflection. She neither accepted the protection nor refused the challenge. She had validated Walsh’s bravery without putting herself under his shield, elegantly tossing the decision back into Sloane’s court.
For the first time, a flicker of genuine appreciation glinted in Sloane’s eyes. She liked intelligent prey.
Finally, she turned her attention to the waiting corporal. A slow smile spread across her face.
“Alright,” she said, her tone light, as if discussing the weather. “A warm-up. If you can last thirty seconds against me, I’ll consider your offer.”