William had rarely used it outside a tiny group.
"What did Daniel say?"
"He said your father had some secret system he only taught favorites."
Sarah laughed.
For real.
Bennett looked irritated.
"What?"
"Phantom Protocol isn't secret."
"Then what is it?"
Sarah smiled.
"My mother named it."
Bennett blinked.
"What?"
"When Dad started teaching me, Mom said he moved around the garage like some ridiculous phantom."
Bennett stared.
"You're serious."
"Completely."
"So this legendary combat system..."
"Is a nickname my mom made up because Dad kept turning off the garage lights during awareness drills."
Bennett looked stunned.
Then he laughed.
The laugh grew.
Sarah joined him.
For almost a minute, the two people who had spent twelve days barely tolerating each other sat on a cold metal bench laughing at a myth.
Then Bennett wiped his face.
"That's unbelievable."
"Most legends get less interesting when you meet their spouses."
He nodded.
Sarah stood.
"Get your hip checked."
Bennett looked up.
"You did that."
"No."
"You threw me."
"You were limping before yesterday."
He froze.
Sarah noticed.
"How long?"
Bennett looked away.
"Three months."
"Medical know?"
"No."
Sarah shook her head.
"You're an idiot."
"Probably."
"Get it checked."
She walked away.
That conversation changed Bennett.
Not immediately.
People rarely change in clean scenes.
He was still proud.
Still competitive.
Still too quick to talk.
But he stopped targeting Sarah.
More importantly, he started noticing when his own squad did.
On the thirteenth day, Price made a comment during strength training.
"Careful. Mitchell might file a complaint if the weights are too heavy."
Bennett looked at him.
"Knock it off."
Price laughed.
"What?"
"I said knock it off."
The room quieted.
Price stared.
"Since when?"
"Since it wasn't funny the first twelve days either."
Sarah heard from across the room.
She didn't react.
But Marcus did.
He looked at her.
"Did you replace him with a nicer clone?"
Sarah kept lifting.
"Shut up."
The joint exercise was supposed to end after fourteen days.
It didn't.
On the final afternoon, Colonel Hayes called an emergency briefing.
Thirty-two operators entered the classroom.
Avery stood beside her.
Sarah immediately knew something had changed.
Hayes waited for the door to close.
"A training aircraft went down ninety miles north of here."
The room shifted.
"Four personnel aboard."
She pointed toward the screen.
"Search-and-rescue teams are responding. Weather is deteriorating."
A map appeared.
Mountainous terrain.
Forested.
Cold.
Hayes continued.
"One of the passengers is a civilian systems engineer. Another is Colonel James Mitchell."
Sarah looked up.
Not related.
Still, the name caught her.
Hayes continued.
"Local teams have requested additional personnel because of terrain and incoming weather."
She looked around the room.
"This is not combat."
Bennett glanced toward Sarah.
Hayes emphasized it.
"This is rescue."
Sixteen volunteers were chosen.
Sarah.
Marcus.
Bennett.
Price.
Others from both units.
The helicopter took them north.
Clouds swallowed the mountain line.