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He ran the cold water again, cupped some in his hands and rubbed it over his face. Then he yanked another length of paper towel from the dispenser, dried his hands and face, and unlocked the door.

“Dude,” said a guy he recognized as a STUD trainee, “I’ve been knockin’ at that fucking door for an hour.”

“A couple of minutes, maybe,” Chay said. “And remember who you are, lowlife.”

It was standard hazing talk from an established STUD to a trainee. Still, judging by the way the guy’s eyebrows reached for his hairline, Chay figured his tone, his expression must have kicked things up a notch. He considered apologizing, couldn’t come up with a valid reason for one and, instead, punched the guy lightly in the biceps as he moved past him.

“Good bladder training,” he said.

The guy choked out a laugh. Chay shot him a smile, then threaded his way to the booth through the crowded bar.

He needed another cold ale.

Maybe he even needed some time off.

Captain Blake, the CO at Condor, had offered him a break.

“One, two weeks,” he’d said. “Get away from here, do something different. Might be good for you.”

Maybe it wasn’t a bad idea. Maybe it was something to consider. Maybe—

Hell. The booth was ahead of him. And Tanner was seated in it, alone.

“What’d I do?” Chay said, sliding into the opposite seat. “Scare off the ladies?”

“Another pit stop.” Tanner hunched forward over the table. “I think Alessandra figured the only way to stop the war was to come up with an excuse and get her sister off the battlefield.”

“Yeah.” Chay reached for his bottle of ale, shoved it aside instead and said, “Shit!”

“You always were good with words, Olivieri. I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

“I’m sorry, dude. I didn’t mean to make Alessandra uncomfortable.”

Tanner sat back. “What in hell was all that? You and my sister-in-law went at each other like a pair of street fighters.”

Chay considered downplaying the accusation, but how could he? They had gone at each other, and he’d have to figure Tanner as a dumbass if he hadn’t recognized it.

He sighed, sat back, and shrugged his broad shoulders.

“Well, the thing is, we, you know, we don’t get along.”

Tanner barked out a laugh. “Amazing. I’ve never known you to deal in understatement before.”

The look on Chay’s face made it clear he wasn’t amused.

“When I was COM Op for you during that San Escobal thing, she was damn near impossible.”

“Yeah. I remember you saying she was in your space all the time.”

“She was, to put it bluntly, a total pain in the ass.”

“Doing what? Leaning on you because her old man’s a general? I wouldn’t have figured Bianca for that.”

“She never mentioned him. It was her. I finally figured out that’s just the way she is.”

“Like, what?”

Chay folded his arms over his chest. “She’s sure she knows everything, that she’s smarter than everybody else.”