Chapter 99: Theory
"What do you mean missing?" I almost shouted—had I not remembered that I was in the front sala and not in a more private room.
Capitan Sadiwa flinched, surprised by my reaction. He shifted in his seat and fully turned to face me. His lips moved, but no words came out.
Gone was the good mood. What I had just heard was not something one wanted to hear—especially in a culture of discipline I was trying to cultivate among the recruits.
I wiped my face and said in a much calmer, lower voice, "When did this happen? And why are you only telling me now?"
Capitan Sadiwa swallowed hard. I could hardly believe this was the same man who had impressed me just the other week with his energy and organization.
"Last Sunday, Heneral... when we returned from the final day of construction in Landi," he said. "Cadet Suarez informed me as soon as I got back to the barracks. I hadn’t told you sooner... because... I thought we had just misplaced them..."
"Sixty rifles?" My voice rose again. "You think you misplaced sixty rifles, Capitan Sadiwa? There is no worse act of negligence than losing your firearms!"
The Santa Cruz recruits who had helped with the construction work in Landi had left their rifles stored in wooden crates at the barracks. I had drilled into my trainees that they should treat their firearms like their wives—something to be watched over, guarded, and never abandoned. But these weren’t my trainees. They were trained by Pedro, and that was the risk. Instructors fresh from their own training often failed to pass down the full weight of discipline.
Even so, I hadn’t spoken up when I saw them in Landi without their weapons. Part of me thought their rifles were indeed safer back in the barracks than unattended at a bustling construction site where laborers and townsfolk came and went.