Evan stared at the clock on the wall over the filing cabinet, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed hard.

“Answer the general, Carter,” Mason Reid said quietly from his spot in the corner.

“I thought she was a fake, sir,” Evan said, his voice cracking on the second word.

“She was sitting by herself.

She was quiet.

She was reading a paperback.

She didn’t look like…”

“Didn’t look like what, exactly, Lance Corporal?” General Vance asked.