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"What do you want me to say, Jase?"

"The truth." He sat on the edge of the table. "You're volunteering to spend twenty-four seven with Kit Lord. Either you're incredibly dedicated to this case or there's something else going on."

"Can't it be both?"

"It can. But I need to know which one is driving the decision." He rubbed his jaw. "Look, I can't throw stones. Bonnie and I got involved during a case. I know how it happens. The intensity, the shared danger, the connection that forms when someone trusts you with their safety."

"Then why are we having this conversation?"

"Because you just retired three months ago after twenty years of service. You're still figuring out who you are without the uniform." His eyes held genuine concern. "The last thing I want is for you to have a brief thing with Kit, then it ends badly and creates problems between you and Angelica. Or worse, you get hurt because you're not ready for something real."

My hands clenched into fists. The first instinct was to tell him to stay out of it. Mind his own business. I was thirty-nine years old, not some kid who needed relationship advice.

But Jase had a point.

I'd spent two decades with relationships that never went anywhere. Deployments killed them before they could develop. The few women who'd tried to wait had eventually given up when I couldn't give them a timeline, couldn't promise I'd come back, couldn't offer anything beyond stolen moments between operations.

Katherine deserved better than a man still figuring out his civilian identity.

"I'll think about it," I said finally.

Jase stood. "That's all I'm asking." He moved toward the door, then stopped. "For what it's worth, Kit's special. I can see why you're drawn to her. She's smart, talented, genuine under all that Hollywood polish. If you're going to get involved with someone, she's not a bad choice."

"High praise from the overprotective cousin."

"I'm serious." He met my eyes. "Just make sure you're doing this for the right reasons. Not because you need a mission to replace the Army. Not because she's beautiful and vulnerable and you want to be her hero. But because you actually care about her as a person."

He left me alone with that thought.

I returned to my equipment and started the real packing process. Monitors, laptops, servers. The familiar routine gave my hands something to do while my mind worked.

My phone rang. Unknown number. I almost ignored it, then recognized the area code. Fort Meade, Maryland. Home of the NSA and US Cyber Command.

"Drakos."

"Code, it's Thompson." My former second-in-command's voice came through clearly. "Got your message. What do you need?"

I'd called him two days ago, and left a vague voicemail about needing classified intelligence help. Thompson owed me. I'd covered for him when he'd bent some rules tracking a Chinese APT group into systems we technically weren't authorized to monitor. The operation had prevented a major breach of defense contractor networks.

"I need background on someone. Military-grade cyber capabilities, custom malware, deepfake technology. Whoever built this has training."

"Send me what you've got. I'll run it through our databases, see if the signature matches any known actors."

"This isn't official," I warned. "Private case. If it comes back on you, I'll take the heat."

"Code, you spent twenty years keeping this country safe. You think I won't help you track down some asshole using military tech to hurt civilians?" Thompson's voice hardened. "Send me everything. I'll have preliminary results in forty-eight hours."

"Thanks."

"Just doing what you taught me. Sometimes you have to bend the rules to do what's right."

He hung up.

I stared at the phone. Thompson had learned that lesson from watching me navigate the impossible position of having skills to help but being forbidden from using them. The Ukraine situation could have destroyed my career, but I truly hadn't given a shit then. Of course he was going to do this for me—we were cut from the same cloth.

I finished loading equipment into reinforced cases. The afternoon sun slanted through the windows. I checked my watch and realized it was already past three.

I pulled out my phone and called Katherine.