PART 14

Tank turned his head enough to glare at me.
“You set me up.”
“No,” I said. “I gave you three seconds to avoid becoming an exhibit.”
Then the mess hall doors opened again.
This time, the room did not just quiet.
It surrendered.
Brigadier General Alan Whitmore entered with two legal officers, the base commander, and a woman in a dark suit carrying a sealed folder.
And Tank finally stopped looking angry.
He looked afraid.
Colonel James Harlan, the base commander, looked like he had aged ten years overnight.
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He knew why I was there now.
He also knew why I had not asked for his permission.