Theodore didn’t look up. “They never were.”
“That’s not true,” she replied, stepping inside. “Before, it was batches. Now it’s frequency. Volume.” She tapped the folder lightly. “Something’s breaking faster than it should.”
That made him pause.
He wiped his hands on a cloth and finally met her eyes. “Not something.”
“Then what?”
“The timeline.”
Grace frowned. “Explain that.”
He gestured toward the engine. “This isn’t wear failure. It’s stress fracture from design limits being pushed too far, too fast.” He tapped the cylinder wall. “They’re increasing output without fixing the tolerance issue.”
“Why would they do that?” she asked.
Theodore gave a humorless half-smile. “Because on paper, performance sells better than longevity.”
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