“Yes,” he answered impatiently. “I broke my back a few years ago, and while it healed, I went back to school.”

“Did you learn anything useful?” she asked with interest.

“Yeah. Politicians and soldiers don’t mix.”

“Do I detect a hint of bitterness?”

He shook his head. “If you actually become a SEAL, you’ll learn fast to be real damned cynical of missions that come down from on high with dozens of noses already poked into them. You’ll learn to ask what they’re not telling you, and you’ll realize how politicians’ ridiculous notions of what SEALs can do are likely to get you killed.”

“Ridiculous as in overinflated?”

He nodded, stirring his gumbo aimlessly. “They think we’re bloody supermen. But we’re not, as you well know.”

“Tonight is the first time you’ve intimated that I might actually make it all the way to the teams,” she said softly.

Chagrin gleamed in his gaze for a moment. “It’s not as if I have any choice in the matter. Our esteemed Secretary of Defense has decided there will be a female SEAL. End of discussion.”

Since he seemed to be in a mellow mood, Sherri risked confessing, “A female SEAL. If it makes you feel any better, I wasn’t especially happy to hear that, either.”

His gaze snapped up to hers. “How’s that?”

“Even if I legitimately make it through BUD/S on my own merits, I’ll still be the girl SEAL the system was rigged for.”

His eyebrows arched as if he was surprised to hear her admit that.

She leaned forward. “Do you know what my job was in Washington DC before I came here? I gave press conferences. I dressed pretty and wore makeup, went to cocktail parties, and did interviews with news outlets on behalf of the Navy. Assuming I’m the one who gets thrown to the wolves in BUD/S, what do you want to bet that’s exactly what the brass will expect me to do after I graduate from SEAL training?”

He pulled a face. “That’s not a bet I would take.”

“Nobody wants me to be a real SEAL.” She looked at him bleakly. “Including you.”

He said nothing.

“I’m the one Kettering is planning to put into BUD/S, aren’t I?”

“What makes you say that? You’re performing at the same level the other women are. Honestly, all three of you are performing more or less identically. You each have your own strengths and weaknesses, but they’re about a wash, overall.”

“I’m the only one of the three women with experience being a public figure. I’m the obvious choice to play poster child. Anna and Lily will get to finish training here and go out and do real missions. But I’m so blasted hard to miss that I’d make a terrible field operator.”