Chapter Seventeen
Dakota
Friday
Everything about yesterday evening was a surprise. Everything.
Dakota had a list of, oh, say, thirteen conversation starters that he could whip out on a first or second date to break the ice, and keep the conversation from hitting a sticky spot when attention shifted awkwardly to the weather or décor.
A lot of the questions on his list were clichés because he understood people got nervous.
Dakota reasoned that pulling out a well-worn date-night question meant his companion probably had a honed reply.
If that answer seemed promising and not too intrusive, Dakota could wander down the conversational path with them until another cliché question was needed to keep the momentum going.
What do you do for fun? Where have you traveled that you felt changed your perspective the most? How do you pick your next book?
It was surprising to him that his dates didn’t read, didn’t travel, and “just whatever” was fun.
That’s why he had a baker’s dozen on the tip of his tongue.
There had to be something to talk about.
Last night, over shrimp scampi, he hadn’t used any of his list with Rylee.
Conversation had flowed easily and freely between them.
Rylee was quick and funny. Any topic that he brought up, she could engage in either from a base of knowledge or a fount of curiosity. Humble and kind. Astonishing.
Too good to be true?
While social media wanted to tell men that women only wanted to date six-foot, six-pack, six-figure men, he thought there really wasn’t the same quick formula making its rounds for women.
For him, the triumvirate of winning qualities included kindness, intellectual curiosity, and natural generosity with words and actions.
He had lain in bed last night talking to Tank about what had happened on the river when Rylee was kayaking.
Even knowing what she knew from dating a fast water search and rescue guy, Rylee had decided to grab the hand of a decomposing corpse to protect the hearts of a family that she had never even met.
What had it taken to reach into the water with all the ghoulish sights and sensations that could follow?
Selfless.
Brave.
Courage was damned sexy.
He loved it. Loved every second of being with her.
And he thanked the Fates that he had that last phone call with Rose, or he would have missed last night altogether. And that would have been a loss and a shame.
They ate. They cleaned up together. Rylee looked beat, so he drove her home, where he held her hand as he walked her to the door.
But that was it.
That was it because Dakota felt incredibly protective of what might be happening between them, and she was tired.
He wanted to make sure that if he kissed her, she wasn’t kissing him back as a way to get it over with, so she could go in and get some sleep.
He’d heard one too many of his friends’ stories—and honestly, one was already too many—about how exhausting it was to maintain their boundaries, especially when it came to intimacy.
He was risk-averse when it came to Rylee. He’d do nothing to endanger what he felt when he was with her.
Dakota decided that on his end, gentlemanly behavior was what he’d continue to extend, and if she wanted more, she’d let him know.
The drive back to his house was only ten minutes.
In a city where traffic could make or break a relationship, ten minutes was a good omen.
Last night, he had slept deeply and profoundly, as if his whole body could relax for the first time in a long time.
This morning, he and Tank had an extra good run. Dakota’s hot shower felt amazing. He was a caricature, a comic-strip man, drawn as if he were walking on air. And he couldn’t seem to drop the grin.
In the mirror, he looked like Jasper did when he was looking at Neesa.
Jasper was a good guy; it would be great if he finally found his better half.
Dakota looked outside and saw Fifi pissing on her favorite tree.
“Tank,” Dakota’s call was answered with scrambling nails on his hardwood.
“Dude, we have to head over to Iniquus. They want you to sniff around their stacks of money, okay? But I’m keeping you with me through this weekend at least, so you get a shot at a date with FiFi.
I’ll text her mom and see if you can’t get a play date. ”
Tank perked up his ears and tipped his head.
“Would you like that? To see Fifi?”
Tank tipped his head the other way, then ran over to the door and sat at attention, tongue hanging long in anticipation.
As Dakota checked his watch. “Okay, five minutes until Jasper gets here.” He opened the door, and Tank shot over to the fence for their ritual butt sniffing just as Dakota’s phone rang.
He answered with a happy grin. “Morning, Rylee.”
“Good morning. I’m here with Neesa, you’re on speaker phone.”
“Morning, Neesa.”
“Not yet, it isn’t. I’m waiting for the coffee to kick in,” she grumped.
“Yeah?” Dakota was starting to get her salty humor. “Rough night's sleep?”
“Rylee seeded some vivid nightmares with her river caper. So yeah, rough, and yeah, last night is one I never want to repeat. But we’re calling with what we hope is good news.”
“Hailey called from Iniquus,” Rylee said. “They have our analysis done. Just so you know, we only gave her tapes from the three instances when our responders had counterfeit money with them.”
“Smart to set those limits.” He watched Tank and Fifi running up and down the fence line together. “That narrows the playing field. What did you find out?”
“It didn’t surprise Hailey because she’s been a logistician for a long time, and it didn’t surprise us, but it might well surprise you to know how very small the Venn Diagram is for people who were around for the times when the counterfeit money was a known factor.”
“They processed it into a report?” Dakota asked, turning toward his drive as Jasper turned in. “It’s not just a raw list?”
“Neesa and I are going over in a little bit to talk to Hailey about the findings. We were wondering if anyone from your team wanted to participate in her presentation.”
“Jasper just pulled up. We’re on our way to Iniquus so Tank can do a walk-through of their vault. Iniquus has decided to test all of their currency, but getting a nose on it seemed like a good first step. We could meet there.”
“Okay, if you’re heading there now—I’m not sure how involved that search is for Tank—but we’re not expected there until ten thirty,” Rylee said. “So if you’re done by then, maybe you two could join us?”
“Absolutely, I’ll let Reaper know we need to make that meeting.”
The morning unfolded much too slowly for Dakota. He kept checking his watch, hoping for ten thirty. It was high school all over again. Jasper, too, seemed itchy. Tank hadn’t wanted to leave FiFi. It was spring, and love was in the air.
He smiled at the thought, then set it aside.
One thing he’d learned in his history with women was never to get ahead of the curve.
Dakota needed to stay present and work the job at hand.
In that moment, Reaper was monitoring Dakota’s ability to handle Tank on a counterfeit search.
General Elliot was on hand to watch Tank do his thing in the vault, where Tank had a hit.
The general turned his battle-hardened focus on Reaper. “Reaper, do we need a K9 trained up to police our currency?”
“No, sir. The Secret Service brought in specific scents from specific known counterfeit crews from specific countries. The only counterfeit money that Tank alerts on is narrow. If Dakota wants to use Tank in the field searching for a different criminal organization’s counterfeit money, Cerberus would have to start with a known sample and train Tank to those particular scents, so my training one of our K9s isn’t practical. ”
“All right.” The general tapped a finger on Dakota’s chest. “When this young man brings in a new scent for Tank. We’ll do the training.
” He turned to Dakota. “The currency I’m concerned with is coming out of North Korea.
It can fool even the currency machines. So work on getting hold of that sample, and we’ll have Tank do an occasional walk-through to pay for his bread and butter. ”
“Fair enough, thank you, sir.” Dakota focused on Tank as he lay down and rested his chin on his front paws.
“You boys going to play in the AI games today?” the general asked. “Swiftwater Crew, weren’t you both?”
“I’m not familiar with what’s going on, sir,” Dakota said.
The general put a hand on Reaper’s shoulder. “See what you can do to get them involved. I’m curious to see how today turns out.” And he walked away.
Reaper pointed down the hall where Neesa and Rylee rounded the corner with their Iniquus escort. “I’ll take WorldCares,” Reaper told the escort, who turned on his heels and left.
“When you’re done, the general was saying that DARPA’s here today.
” Reaper used the acronym for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
“They have an AI system that they want to test. It can monitor a building by watching for and signaling an advancing human. They’re setting it up on the barracks wall facing the field.
They want to see if anyone can get to the building without the system detecting their approach.
We have a couple of Marine Raiders from Strike Force that I know are taking a turn.
Cerberus Bravo will all be there—Hailey’s husband, Ares, with his K9 Judge.
Some others are throwing their hats in the ring.
No prize, no glory, but it’s a break from the norm. A good challenge.”
“I haven’t quite forgiven Cerberus for stealing Hailey from us,” Neesa told Jasper. “She was one of our best logistical assets.”
“Stealing would be a stretch.” Rylee shifted back so she was walking beside Dakota with Tank between them.
“She fell in love with Ares, and she’s still doing her good work in the world, but now she can still be home with him.
We should talk to her about that, Neesa.
I bet she has some insights into our attrition issues. ”
“Still,” Neesa said.