Hammond looks between us. “With you… where?”
Riley glances at me, like she wants to explain, like she’s trying to prove she’s fine. Like she’s trying to keep the people around her calm so nobody panics.
That instinct will get her killed.
I keep my voice polite. Controlled. “Secure location. Command-approved.”
Hammond doesn’t love that answer. I can tell. But he watches my stance, the way I’m positioned between Riley and the world, and he reads the truth anyway.
Riley’s hand slips into Hammond’s again, a reflex. “He’s keeping me safe,” she says softly.
My chest tightens at the way she says it.
Like she trusts it.
Hammond squeezes her fingers. “Good.” His voice roughens. “Because I have a very bad feeling about this.”
Riley swallows. “Me too.”
Hammond’s eyes sweep the room again, then sharpen. “Did they take anything? Drives? Paper copies?”
“No,” Riley says. “They trashed things. They went through everything. They wanted access. Or…” She hesitates, voice thinning. “Or they wanted to scare me.”
Hammond’s face shifts—something like guilt flashes there. Or fear. Hard to tell.
He reaches out and tucks a piece of her hair behind her ear like it’s a habit. “Riley… this program is bigger than anyone wants to admit. Bigger than your lab. Bigger than Ridgeway.”
Riley’s lips part, and for a second she looks like she might fall apart.
Then she leans forward and hugs him again, quick and tight. “I don’t know what’s happening,” she whispers. “I don’t know why they’d want?—”
Hammond wraps her up like he can shield her from the whole damn world. “You don’t have to figure it out alone,” he murmurs.
I stand there, watching, and the protective part of me doesn’t ease.
It sharpens.
Because he cares about her. That’s clear.
But caring doesn’t make you safe.
It doesn’t make you clean.
It doesn’t mean you’re not desperate enough to do something stupid.
And right now, every person who asks Riley a question goes into my mental file underPotential Problem.
Riley pulls away, wiping her eyes like she’s angry at herself for having them.
Hammond looks at me again. “I’d like to speak with Major Chen.”
“She’s aware,” I say.
Hammond nods, then lowers his voice. “Crewe. Off the record. Keep her close. Someone doesn’t just wreck a base lab unless they’re running out of time.”
I hold his stare. “That’s the plan.”
He gives Riley one more long look—like he wants to imprint her face into his mind—and then he turns and walks out, shoulders tense.
