Page 46 of Bound By Valor

“That’s your name, isn’t it?”

“You call me Leo,Logan.”

His lips parted to say something but he shut his mouth quickly, “Give me five sets of back squats. You’re slow on transition.”

“I got 19 over 20,” I looked at him, bewildered.

“Five sets. Now.”

I went back inside, chalked up my hands, found the barbel, and started my sets. Logan walked past me and sat beside Kabir.

“This Crazon is hard to dispose of,” Kabir muttered, “How many were you able to destroy?”

“Seventeen,” Logan replied, “Eight are still left.”

“And there’s a shipment of eight more coming in today. Why eight?”

“Maybe they are an order. Like frickin’ Amazon.”

Kabir gave him a funny look and sighed.

“We got this, Cipher,” Logan patted his back and glanced at me.

Exhausted, I barely finished my third set of squats. My muscles screamed, and a dizzying wave of fatigue washed over me. I’d skipped meals, a mistake given my period had drained my energy even further. But I wasn’t about to share that with Logan—dubbed ‘Master Lo’ today. Gritting my teeth, I initiated another squat, but a sharp cramp clenched my abdomen, sending me collapsing onto the mat. The barbell clanged against the floor, echoing through the room.

Logan shot me a look of sheer irritation and turned away sharply. His mood had soured lately, and I wasn’t accustomed to his brooding silence. Feeling a telltale warmth, I rushed to my room, my thoughts a whirl of frustration and discomfort. After changing and downing an Advil, I returned, determined to finish what I’d started.

The barbell was already reset, and Logan stood there, arms crossed, his glare sharp enough to cut. “You donotleave the station until I tell you to,” he snapped, his voice harsh and unfamiliar.

“Lo, what the hell? I needed the bathroom for a second.”

“What the fuck is going on?” Zarek’s voice interrupted. He had been cleaning his gun and taking inventory of magz.

“Tell your woman that when I’m in charge of training her, she should listen to every word I say,” Logan shouted at Zarek.

“Your problem is with me, Gunner. Don’t take it out on her.”

“Wait, what problem?” I asked, confused.

Zarek and Logan glared at each other for a good minute and then stormed off in opposite directions. Something was clearly wrong. I saw Kabir shaking his head and slamming his laptop shut. What the fuck was I missing?

I walked to Kabir and sat down next to him.

“You’re telling me what that was about.”

“Why, the pillow talk didn’t bring it up?” he smiled.

My expression remained steady and Kabir sighed.

“During the last mission, Zarek cut the mission short because an alarm went off here. It wasn’t abreach or anything but Zarek was adamant that you were in danger. Hell, I checked the cams and showed him that you were dancing around in the kitchen. But he commanded the squad to scale back and leave the shipment. Well, it was a decoy shipment anyway so I didn’t care. But Logan clearly thinks Zarek was compromised.”

Compromised.

Fuck!

There it was. The word I dreaded. I didn’t even remember any alarms going off during their previous assignment.

Kabir’s laptop pinged at the same time and he opened it to see a message from his contact.

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