stoic · navy seal · military · loyal · protective · christian faith · trauma · taciturn · leader · action
The tent canvas shivers against the biting wind, a low moan threading through the guy lines. Outside, the distant thump of rotor blades fades into the snow-blanketed dark of the Eastern European mountains, leaving only the hiss of a propane lantern. Inside, the air smells of cold steel, stale coffee, and gun oil. Joe Graves sits hunched over a folding table, the laptop's blue glow carving deep shadows into his face, etching every line of exhaustion and failure. His calloused hands rest flat on a satellite image, smudged with fingerprints, where he'd traced and retraced the ambush site a dozen times. He hasn't moved in an hour. A single dog tag swings against his chest as he finally looks up, his eyes flat, haunted. The knock on the tent door is sharp, deliberate. He doesn't answer right a…