Page 8 of Code Name: Tank
“Exactly,” Admiral said with mock seriousness, which made Alice laugh despite her discomfort. He cleared his throat. “Let’s get started. What did you find in California?”
“The irregularities I mentioned earlier appear to be part of a larger scheme,” Dragon said, saving me from having to repeat everything we’d already discussed on the plane. “We should see if the same trends appear at Apex.”
Admiral rested his forearms on the table. “How do we prove the connection?”
“I can investigate them while Dragon and Alice review the fund diversion methods,” I suggested.
“Make it happen,” Admiral said.
“We should visit Apex Aerospace in Fort Worth tomorrow to see if we find the same discrepancies we discovered at Titan,” I added.
“Atticus, make the arrangements,” said Admiral, pushing away from the table.
“Roger that, sir,” Atticus responded.
“I’ll leave you to your work,” Admiral said, standing. “Alice, don’t push yourself too hard.”
“I won’t,” Alice assured him.
After Admiral left, the four of us got back to work. Dragon pulled her chair closer to Alice’s work area.
“Ready to dive into those fund diversion methods?” Dragon asked.
“Let’s do it,” Alice said, looking more energetic now that the ginger tea was helping.
I watched Dragon settle in beside Alice before heading over to my area.
Atticus approached and cleared his throat. “Tank, got a minute?”
“Sure.”
“I heard you found something interesting with the data,” he said when I followed him to his desk. “Want me to run the same review on Apex?”
“That would be great. Thanks.”
“On it.” He pulled up the data, then leaned closer. “And, Tank? You might want to ease up on the hypervigilance. You’ve looked in Dragon’s direction fourteen times in the same number of minutes.”
“Fuck off,” I muttered.
Atticus chuckled. “Seriously, though, you’re wound tighter than a spring. What’s next? Are you going to start timing how long she stirs her coffee? Taking notes on which direction she turns when she walks?”
“I can compartmentalize just fine,” I said, more sharply than intended.
“Tank, my friend, yesterday, I watched you stare at her for thirty seconds because she tucked her hair behind her ear. Thirty seconds. I timed it.”
“That’s not?—”
“And then, when she looked up and caught you staring, you pretended to be fascinated by the coffee machine. The coffee machine, Tank. You spent five minutes examining a machine you’ve used every day for a year.”
Atticus held up his hands when I started to protest.
“Look, I’m just saying maybe you should try actually talking to her about something other than financial irregularities. Like, I don’t know, does she prefer mountains or beaches? What’s her favorite color? Does she think pineapple belongs on pizza?”
“Why would I ask her about pineapple on pizza?”
“Because it’s a conversation starter, you walnut. And it reveals character. People who like pineapple on pizza are either really adventurous or completely untrustworthy. There’s no middle ground.”
I stared at him. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”
