Page 8 of Code Name: Tank (K19 Sentinel Cyber #4)

TANK

D ragon’s dismissal still burned in my chest as I watched her follow Alice out of the command center.

“New lead,” she’d said, then shut me out completely.

After being angry about me excluding her, she’d turned around and done the same thing.

The hypocrisy stung almost as much as her cold tone when she’d said we’d work better separately.

Whatever this new lead was, Dragon clearly didn’t trust me enough to share it. That phone call I’d overheard last night probably had something to do with it—another complication I couldn’t begin to understand.

“You look like hell,” Atticus said, settling into the chair across from my desk. “Rough night?”

I gestured at my screen. “Just trying to focus on the work.”

“Want me to help with anything?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Atticus leaned back in his chair, studying me. “You know, Tank, there’s this revolutionary concept called ‘talking to people about your feelings.’ I hear it’s all the rage these days.”

“Fuck off,” I muttered.

“I’m just saying, maybe you could try actually having a conversation with Dragon instead of brooding like a character in a Gothic novel. You know, something crazy like, ‘Hey Dragon. What’s wrong?’ or ‘Can we talk about what happened?’”

“I already tried that. It’s complicated.”

“Everything’s complicated when you’re overthinking it. Sometimes the direct approach works wonders.” He grinned. “Though knowing you, you’ll probably write her a formal memo requesting a scheduled discussion about interpersonal dynamics.”

Rather than saying the words again, I just flipped him off.

Atticus and I worked in silence for the next hour. I spent the time taking another look at the financial data I’d been compiling, determined to lose myself in tracking the money. Following these trails was like solving a puzzle—each piece had to fit with the others to reveal the complete picture.

But even focused on the data, my mind kept drifting back to Dragon. I hated that I couldn’t just look across the room and see her. That alone would ground me.

When my cell vibrated with a text, my first thought was that it might be her asking me to come to the main residence so we could go over something. Instead, it was from my mother.

Are you bringing anyone home with you for Thanksgiving this year?

I cringed. Bringing someone? Unless we miraculously concluded this investigation by then, I wouldn’t be able to go home at all.

Maybe I could suggest they come here instead—rent one of the other camps on the lake for the weekend.

The thought of introducing Dragon to my family’s chaos in the peaceful setting of the Adirondacks was oddly appealing.

I remembered her telling me she didn’t have family traditions, and the idea of including her in ours felt right.

At thirteen hundred hours, Atticus looked up from his screen and stretched. “Tank, we’ve been staring at numbers for hours. My brain is fried.”

I rubbed my eyes, realizing he was right. “Yeah, mine too.”

“Want to take a break? We could drive over to the Canada Lake Store, grab some sandwiches.”

The idea of getting out of the command center appealed to me. “Good call. Let’s go.”

Twenty minutes later, we were sitting on the store’s front porch, demolishing incredible sandwiches.

I’d gotten the Canada Laker, which was roast beef, cream cheese, and banana peppers on pumpernickel.

Atticus got the Wester, which consisted of Italian cold cuts, provolone cheese, and oil and vinegar on a freshly baked baguette.

The October air was crisp, and the view across the lake toward the island was exactly what I needed to clear my head.

“So,” Atticus said around a bite of his sandwich. “You figure out what you’re going to tell your family about Thanksgiving yet?”

I paused mid chew. “Actually, I was just thinking about that. No way I can leave, with this investigation going on.”

“That’s rough. Your mom’s going to be disappointed.”

Atticus had come to my parents’ place more than once when his folks were out of town for the holiday. He knew firsthand how much grief my mother would give me.

“I was thinking I could suggest they come here instead. Rent one of the camps on the lake for the long weekend.”

Bill, the store’s owner, looked up from where he was restocking drinks in the cooler on the porch. “Did I hear you say you need a rental for Thanksgiving?”

“Possibly,” I said. “For my family. Parents, sister, her kids.”

“Cedar Point would be perfect,” Bill said immediately. “Sleeps twelve, great kitchen, dock for the kids to fish from. Beautiful spot, and the owners just called to say they wouldn’t be up that week.”

Atticus grinned. “Sounds perfect.”

“The key’s under the third planter on the left side of the front porch if you want to take a look. Just lock up when you’re done.” Bill waved us off like this was the most normal thing in the world, which at Canada Lake, it was.

An hour later, we were walking through Cedar Point’s cozy living room with its stone fireplace and windows that offered an expansive view of the mountains and water. The kitchen was spacious enough for my mother’s cooking ambitions, and the bedrooms would easily accommodate everyone.

“Dragon would love this view,” I said without thinking, then immediately regretted it when Atticus raised an eyebrow.

“Planning to invite her to family Thanksgiving?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. If we’re speaking by then.”

“You will be. You’re both too stubborn to let this investigation suffer because of personal drama.”

I could picture it—my family’s chaos mixing with Dragon’s quiet intensity, my mother fussing over her, my nieces and nephews drawing her into their games. It felt right in a way that surprised me.

“I’ll call my folks tonight,” I said, locking the door behind us. “See if they want to come east for a change.”

It was fifteen hundred by the time we returned to Kane Mountain. There was still no sign of Dragon or Alice in the command center. Whatever they were working on in the main residence was taking all day.

I settled back at my desk, trying to push down the frustration.

The financial data we’d been tracking clearly pointed to foreign hackers—sophisticated, coordinated, obviously state-sponsored.

But something about it felt too neat, too obvious.

My gut was telling me we were missing something, but without Dragon’s input, I couldn’t figure out what.

By seventeen hundred hours, I’d analyzed every transaction three times over. The patterns were there, but they felt almost deliberate. Like someone wanted us to see exactly what we were seeing.

Maybe tomorrow, whatever was going on with Dragon would work itself out and we could get back to being partners who actually collaborated.

I pulled out my phone. No point in putting this off. “Hey, Mom.”

“Tank! Perfect timing. I was just planning the menu for Thanksgiving. I sent you a text. At least, I think I did. Maybe you didn’t get it. Anyway, are you bringing someone this year?”

I could hear the hope in her voice. “Actually, that’s why I’m calling. I can’t make it home this year.”

“What? Why not?”

“Work. We’re in the middle of something that can’t wait.” The silence stretched long enough that I thought the call had dropped. “Mom?”

“I’m here. I’m just disappointed.”

“I know. But I have an idea. What if you all came here instead? I found this great cabin right on the lake.”

“The Adirondacks?” Her tone shifted to intrigued.

“And there’s someone…” I hesitated. “Someone I’d like you to meet.”

The squeal that came through the phone made Atticus look up from his screen with raised eyebrows.

“Tank! What’s her name? How long have you been?—”

“Mom, slow down. It’s complicated. We work together. And things are uncertain right now.”

When I hung up, Atticus was grinning.

“Your mom’s going to love Dragon,” he said.

“If she even gets a chance to meet her.”

As evening came, I compiled my research for tomorrow morning’s briefing, organizing the evidence in a way that would be clear to the rest of the team. The task required focus that helped distract me from the constant thoughts of Dragon.

So far, the investigation was raising more questions than answers.

The similarities between Titan and Apex might mean something, or they might not.

We needed more information before drawing any conclusions.

But the more I stared at the data, the more convinced I became that we were looking at this all wrong.

At nineteen hundred hours, I was beat. Dragon and Alice never returned to the command center, which pretty much summed up how the day had gone.

I headed back to Granite Ridge, kicking a fallen branch off the path harder than necessary. This wasn’t how partnerships were supposed to work.

The frustration reminded me of my last months at the agency, when trust became a liability and sharing information could end not just your career but maybe your life.

Atticus and I had watched the place tear itself apart after the director and his cronies were indicted in a massive conspiracy that had taken place over the course of years and involved the deaths of several agents. Suddenly, nobody trusted anybody.

“Remember when we could actually do our jobs?” Atticus had said one day, after our third partner in six months got reassigned for “security concerns.”

“You mean when we could share intelligence without three levels of authorization and fear of being burned?” I’d replied.

We’d submitted our resignations the following week.

I reached my cabin and grabbed a beer from the fridge, settling on the front porch and thinking about the call I’d received from Doc Butler that changed my life completely.

“No politics, no bureaucracy, just competent people doing intelligence work,” he’d said.

Those early assignments reminded me why I’d gotten into the spy business. Tracking down human traffickers and working with operators who knew the difference between cover-your-ass paperwork and actual results.

Then, when Admiral, who Atticus and I knew from an assignment at the FBI, formed K19’s newest unit, Sentinel Cyber, I thought I’d found the perfect team.

Alice’s technical genius, Atticus’ analytical mind, my financial background—we clicked immediately.

For over two years, we’d handled investigations I was damn proud of.

“This unit works together like we’ve been doing it for decades,” Admiral had said after we solved a major case.

He wasn’t wrong. There were no secrets, no compartmentalization, no protecting each other from difficult information. It was what made us effective.

I took a long pull from my beer, staring across the lake. That perfect unit had lasted exactly until Dragon walked through our doors.

For a year, I’d been fighting my attraction to someone who made it clear she wanted nothing to do with me outside of work.

Now, on our first real assignment as partners, she was doing exactly what had destroyed the agency and what she’d accused me of.

She was shutting me out, making unilateral decisions, and keeping secrets.

The irony wasn’t lost on me. I’d left the CIA because I couldn’t stand working in an environment without trust. Now, the woman I was falling for was creating the same dynamic.

I finished my beer and headed inside. Tomorrow, there would be briefings and new developments. Tonight, I was left wondering if Dragon would ever trust me enough to let me be the partner she deserved.

Or if I’d spend the rest of this investigation—and maybe every one that came after—on the outside, looking in.