And this time—
I won’t make it easy for him.
33
Sentinel
They didn’t fracture.
Sentinel watches the latest report scroll across the screen—brief, efficient, stripped of anything unnecessary.
Just behavior.
Just observation.
Just enough.
Subject remains engaged. No reduction in communication. Proximity unchanged.
A pause.
Then—
Increased alignment with Carter.
Sentinel goes still.
Not surprised.
But—
Interested.
“They’re holding formation,” the man beside him says carefully.
Sentinel doesn’t answer.
He replays it in his mind instead.
The pressure point.
The trigger.
Placed cleanly.
Delivered without noise.
It should have worked.
Not fully.
Not permanently.
But enough to create separation.
Enough to create doubt.
Instead—
