Chapter 24: The Weight of Command

The fallout from the letter didn't stay in the barracks. The next day, a Black Hawk touched down, and Major Sterling, a man with a chest full of medals and a reputation for being a "moralist," stepped off. He’d heard rumors of the "Witch" and the "unrest" in James's unit.

I was in the TOC, manning the radio, when James was summoned to the Major's temporary office. The walls were thin.

"Captain James," Sterling’s voice was sharp. "I’m hearing reports of a certain... favoritism. And a soldier who seems to be the center of a lot of drama. This 'Spotted Witch' business."

"Specialist Ramírez is an exceptional soldier, Major," James replied, his voice a wall of ice.

"She’s a distraction," Sterling countered. "A woman with her history, and now this business with the men reading her private mail... it’s a liability. I’m considering a transfer. Move her to a support role in Bagram."

I felt my heart sink. Bagram was a fortress. It was safe. It was also where careers went to die. If I was transferred, I would never see James again. I would be "the girl who couldn't handle it."

"With all due respect, Major," James said, and I could hear the dangerous edge in his voice. "If you move her, you lose the best RTO and medic this valley has ever seen. If you have a problem with her, you have a problem with my leadership. I won't let you punish her for the failures of the men around her."

"You're dangerously close to insubordination, Charles," Sterling warned.

"I'm dangerously close to winning this valley, Sir. And I won't do it without her."