Page 23 of Danny

He looks up but doesn't ask why. Caleb never asks why — he calculates the answer himself and then confirms it with a look that says I know. Do you want me to pretend I don't?

"Sixteen," he repeats.

"Bigger guest list."

"Twelve percent bigger. You're asking for thirty-three percent more coverage."

"I want the extra four distributed across sections two through four. General coverage. No specific assignment."

Sections two through four. Where the bar is. Where the service corridors are. Where Anna will be working.

Caleb makes a note but doesn't comment, even though I know he’s secretly logging all this information.

"Also," I say, and this is the part where I'm aware that I'm crossing a line and I'm crossing it anyway, "the event coordination team. They'll be moving through the building all night. Service corridors, kitchen access, ballroom. I want Theo personally assigned to that area."

"Theo is usually on the main entrance."

"Move him."

"The main entrance is the highest-traffic point. That's where we catch problems before they enter the room."

"I'm aware. Move him."

Caleb sets down his pen. Looks at me with the flat, steady gaze of a man who has led teams into actual combat zones and is now watching his friend rearrange a security plan around a woman he won't name.

"Danny."

"Yes Caleb?"

"The event coordination team is three people. Evie, Marcus, and Anna."

I don't react.

"You want Theo — my best operator, the man who runs our entire entrance protocol — pulled from the front door and reassigned to babysit three event coordinators because one of them is a woman you're fu—"

"It’s because they are moving around in a lot of undermanned areas. That’s a vulnerability."

"It's a vulnerability you've never mentioned in four years of galas. And one that definitely doesn’t require Theo."

"I'm mentioning it now."

The silence stretches. Caleb could push it. Caleb could say the thing we both know — that this isn't about security gaps, it's about a man who watched a man grab his woman's wrist on a monitor and hasn't been the same since. But Caleb is Caleb, and Caleb understands two things better than anyone I know: loyalty and the things you do for the people you can't stop yourself from protecting.

"I'll move Theo and I’ll make sure the door is covered," he says. "But you owe me a conversation about this. Not today. But real fucking soon, Danny."

"Noted." Caleb scares the shit outta me, but I love his loyal ass.

He gathers the schematics but pauses at the door.

"She'll be in a dress you know," he says.

"What?"

"The Gala. Event coordination staff wear formal. Not the uniform." He delivers this information with the absolute neutrality of a man reporting weather conditions. "You should prepare for that."

He leaves.

I sit there behind my desk thinking about Anna in a dress and have to close my eyes for about ten seconds to get my brain working again.