Rising Tomorrow (Roc de Chere Book 1) by Mariana Morgan (essential reading txt) 📕

moment. Gonzalez had worked with Captain Palmeiro often in the past, though not in the last couple of years, and remembered nothing but a professional officer. What he had seen during the briefing was anything but professional.

‘We don’t have time for him to get his shit together. I need him fully focused an hour ago,’ Gonzalez replied. The plan forming in his head required every person he had, and if he had to make changes or request more people from the MIS, he had to do it now.

Ingram fidgeted as she considered her reply.

‘Do the two of you have a history?’ Asking personal questions was always awkward, but understanding his subordinates and their motivations could literally be the difference between success and death. Privacy was all well and good, but it was far down his priority list.

‘Yes… and no,’ Ingram said. She was used to the fact that the MIS guaranteed as much privacy when it came to a soldier’s personal life as it did when it came to their health, and part of her no longer cared. Gonzalez wasn’t a voyeur, but Captain Palmeiro was a good officer and an even better MIS operative, and bad-mouthing him behind his back just felt wrong.

‘He was interested in me a few years ago, before my promotion, when we were both captains. I turned him down,’ she admitted, and Gonzalez nodded.

It wasn’t unheard of for Elite officers to dally with one another. Technically, it was frowned upon, but Elites tended to get away with a lot of things, and Captain Palmeiro was the cream of the Elite. Even the most progressive and caring Elite couldn’t resist taking advantage of the privileges their status gave them. Often they weren’t even aware they were doing so; it was just too damn easy to take certain things for granted. Gonzalez couldn’t care less who fucked whom as long as it didn’t interfere with the job, although he no longer allowed himself the luxury of satisfying his own primal needs within the work environment.

‘Why would you recommend someone for this mission who has an issue with you?’ he asked.

‘Federico doesn’t have an issue with me. I mean, not with the personal past between us—he has an issue with the present, on a professional level. I think he assumed he would be your second-in-command, given how I officially rank as a sergeant in the Police Forces.’

‘That’s ridiculous. His current CO, me, is a fucking fugitive, and he has an issue with a technicality? You were promoted to major years ago. He knows that. What are you not telling me?’

Ingram sighed. Why the hell do you have to be so fucking clever, you bastard, an angry voice in the back of her head whinged. If I tell you what I suspect, and if I’m right, you’ll be mad. If I’m wrong, this whole mess just gets even messier.

‘About three and a half years ago he was on a promotion list,’ Ingram began reluctantly, mincing words uncharacteristically.

‘And?’ Gonzalez prompted when the woman paused and bit her lip, obviously torn by indecision.

‘And he didn’t get it, obviously. I shouldn’t know why, and it really is irrelevant, so please don’t ask. What matters is that he expected his birth to have advanced his career further, and it clearly hasn’t. Not as much as he believes is just. He doesn’t let that interfere with his job, and he is good, really good, in the field. But he is bitter. He knows you recommended me for my last promotion shortly after he lost his chance. And while I might be mistaken, I think he assumed it’s because I slept with you. Or still am. Sleeping with you, I mean. And I also think he assumed that was the reason I turned him down. Because he couldn’t advance my career.’

Gonzalez goggled at her for a moment, processing the convoluted story and struggling to find words. This was not the bullshit he wanted to sort out mid-preparation for an assault on Cassandra’s R&D facility. This wasn’t even the type of bullshit he wanted to sort out while sitting comfortably behind his desk at MIS HQ. This was the type of bullshit that should never have existed in the first place.

There was no way to deny humans their desires to satisfy their sexual urges and needs long-term. It was a primal necessity that required an outlet at some point. As long as it remained consensual and didn’t interfere with one’s duty, it was nothing more than harmless entertainment. The problem was that humans excelled in their ability to turn harmless entertainment into drama. Or worse, into abuse and blackmail.

Any sexual contact between an Elite and a Leech made Gonzalez’s skin crawl. There was just never any way to tell if the Leech was in it voluntarily. Marrying an Elite remained about the only way for a Leech to leave behind their life of misery and become an Elite—at least in practice—and some Leeches were prepared to suffer a lot to preserve that slim chance. Others wanted nothing more than to be left alone, but they were too scared for their life to refuse sexual servitude.

Even a relationship between a Leech who got promoted into the senior non-com ranks and a rank-less trooper could go sour very quickly. These days the majority of Leech promotions were given to those who deserved them, in recognition of their achievements and skills, but there were still a lot who had ‘earned’ their promotions during the Freedom Wars by betraying their fellow Leeches in exchange for a better life.

Potential conflicts in relationships or as a result of unreciprocated feelings between Elite officers, however, was not something Gonzalez had ever considered. It was perhaps because of his own Elite-bred short-sightedness that he didn’t see the potential for friction. There was a hierarchy within the Elite as well, based on power and money, and it only stood to reason that some of the lower-class Elites could try to sleep their way into a