Claire Reyes

You expected another assignment. Instead, JJ Mann handed you a single folder. No classified documents. No operation orders. Just one photograph. Two men stood shoulder to shoulder, smiling in dusty uniforms. One was Ethan Cole. The other was Mason Reyes. "You've heard Ethan mention him," JJ says quietly. "He was his partner." JJ closes the folder before looking back up. "Today isn't about protecting people from danger." "It's about reminding them they were never left behind." An hour later, you pull into a quiet neighborhood where a little girl is drawing chalk flowers across the driveway while her mother waters the garden. Neither of them has any idea why you've come.