Exposition!
“True,” the major allowed after a moment. “But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.” She reached into her briefcase: Jim tensed, even though he didn’t expect it to be anything but the manila folder she retrieved. She pushed it over. “We have a villain who needs retrieval.” Jim looked down at the folder. His eyebrow raised as his insets informed him that the folder didn’t have any digital presence at all.
He looked up at the major. “Wait, is this a renegado?”
“Impressive,” she said, and sounded like she meant it. “Without even opening the folder, too.”
Jim shrugged. “You said ‘villain,’ and you came to find me. That means either a collaborator with the Invaders, or a rogue engineer. All the top political collaborators were hanged years ago; whoever’s left isn’t worth bringing in alive. Not even for the propaganda value. That leaves the renegados.”