Sarah Martinez never thought her life would change because of a broken radio. She was twenty-four years old and worked as a communications technician at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego. Every morning she walked through the same gates, showed her ID to the same guards, and headed to the same small workshop where she spent her days fixing radios, satellite equipment, and communication devices.
Her job was simple but important. When Navy SEALs needed their equipment to work perfectly, they brought it to Sarah. She had steady hands and a sharp mind for electronics.
Her father had been an electrician, and he taught her how to work with wires and circuits when she was just ten years old. Now, fifteen years later, she could take apart any communication device and put it back together better than before. Sarah lived alone in a small apartment near the base.
She had moved to California from Texas two years ago when she got the job. Her family thought she was crazy to move so far from home, but Sarah wanted independence. She wanted to prove she could make it on her own.
The job paid well, and she loved working with her hands. Most people on the base barely noticed Sarah. She wore simple work clothes and kept her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail.
She preferred it that way. Sarah was shy around new people, especially military officers. They seemed so serious and important compared to her.
She was just a civilian contractor who fixed things. The communications workshop was in a corner building near the training areas. Sarah could often hear the SEALs running drills, shouting commands, and practicing their missions.
Sometimes she watched them from her workshop window. They moved like athletes, fast and precise. Everything they did looked dangerous and exciting.
Sarah’s supervisor was Mr. Johnson, a retired Navy chief who had worked with communications for thirty years. He taught Sarah everything about military equipment.
He always said that in the military, communication could mean the difference between life and death. If a radio failed during a mission, people could die. This made Sarah take her job very seriously.
One Tuesday morning in March, Sarah arrived at work to find a pile of broken equipment on her desk. Three radios, two satellite phones, and a GPS device all needed repairs. Mr.
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