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“That’s no private,” Sean said.

Nick leaned in. “Yeah, his uniform isn’t wrinkle-free.”

Sean snorted but didn’t disagree. It was something he hadn’t noticed. The ring was an informal place for people who wanted to spar or wrestle, but it was widely known that when Team Maelstrom had it, no one else was supposed to intrude. They’d never had to enforce it before, and Sean sighed as he decided he would finally have to.

“You show ’em,” Nick said as Sean walked off.

Sean resisted the urge to flip Nick the finger, even though he knew it probably would have drawn a smile from him. Instead, he kept his eyes on the stranger standing at the edge of the ring. Even as Sean approached, the man’s gaze stayed locked on the training that Sean himself should have been overseeing.

“They’re messy,” the man said, his voice sharp and a little wry.

Sean blinked, looking at Matt and Ricardo, who were also aware of the stranger in their midst now that Sean had approached him.

“What?” Sean asked.

The man motioned toward Matt and Ricardo. “Them. They’re messy, or weren’t you paying attention?”

Sean wasn’t sure what irritated him more, the question or the amusement in the guy’s voice. Cocking his head, Sean waited for him to turn and look at him, and to his even greater annoyance, the stranger took several seconds before tearing his eyes away from Matt and Ricardo. Sean had thought the soldier’s eyes might have been brown from a distance, but he found they were, in fact, a deep blue. They lit upon Sean’s face with that same amusement and a touch of expectation.

After another pause, the guy held out his hand. “Aidan.”

Sean looked down at the offered hand. “This area is taken until we’re done with it. You can use it when we’re finished.”

“Huh, guess I should have asked Winter what kind of attitude I was going to be dealing with before I walked my ass all the way out here,” Aidan said, keeping his hand out in front of him.

Sean’s brow stitched at the mention of the general’s name. “General Winter sent you?”

“You’re Staff Sergeant Sean Harris, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I’m Sergeant Aidan Rider. Pleasure to meet you,” Aidan said, shaking his hand slightly in the air.

Sean resisted the urge to smack the man’s hand away and remind the man to salute. They were a whole rank apart, so despite the formality of it being called for, even between soldiers in general, it shouldn’t have mattered to Sean. Yet Aidan’s entire demeanor rankled Sean’s nerves, as though the man couldn’t be bothered to show even the slightest respect.

Reminding himself to stay calm, he took a deep breath.

“Right, what did the General want?” Sean asked, still ignoring Aidan’s hand.

Aidan withdrew his hand, the corner of his mouth twitching. “General Winter sent me out here because you’re looking at the new fifth member of your team.”

“What?” Matt barked, followed by a murmur from Nick in the background.

Sean was right there with them, but Aidan’s dark eyes were still locked on Sean’s face, and he had to keep his features straight. He’d known General Winter was looking for someone to be their fifth and had been dreading the day. However, Sean had expected more warning than to have the guy just show up. And to say Aidan was already making a bad impression was putting it mildly.

Aidan raised a hand at the other three. “Sergeant Aidan Rider, field intelligence.”

There came another couple of murmurs from behind them, which Sean did his best to ignore. He wasn’t surprised Command had included another intel member since they no longer had one. Still, the idea of Clint’s spot being replaced was hard enough, but to hear it was his same position rubbed salt into the already stinging wound.

“Why weren’t we told about this beforehand?” Sean asked with a tightening jaw.

Aidan eyed him. “If it makes you feel any better, I wasn’t given much warning either. I returned to the States, and they threw me over here and told me I was joining you guys.”

Not that Sean was surprised. It wasn’t as though Command cared one whit about whether someone was ready. When they told someone to jump, the expectation was that you jumped and hoped you went high enough. Privately, Sean had the impression Aidan was one of the few people who waited to jump, seeing if he could get away with letting everyone else do it instead.

“I showed up yesterday, met with General Winter, got some real sleep for the first time in days...well, close to real sleep, and now here I am,” Aidan said, gesturing grandly.

Upon closer inspection, Sean saw the dark circles under Aidan’s blue eyes. Other than that, though, he didn’t seem tired, but Sean knew better than to trust that too much. From what Aidan had said, he’d probably come from overseas, and when you were there, you learned to live on minimal sleep for long stretches of time. It became a great deal harder to adjust when you first returned, though, Sean remembered, the jetlag was utter hell.