Bram put his name at the bottom of the defense proposal, beneath the limits on his authority.
The local committee noticed.
One member pulled the page closer and asked whether he expected that order to make them trust him. Bram stood on the opposite side of the table with neither a uniform nor an excuse that could make the question unnecessary.
“No,” he said. “I expect you to read the limits before the name.”
“I know the name.”
The woman’s brother had been among people moved through Rook’s transfer arrangements. Bram could answer questions about the route he had worked. He could not account for every person after they reached the receiving site. Eli had heard him state that boundary before. Hearing it again in a room deciding whether to let him organize armed people did not make it comfortable.
The committee member tapped the page.
“You once protected transfers from people who wanted to stop them.”
