Hammond’s face collapses. “It wasn’t personal?—”
“It obviously was,” Riley spits. “You put your hands on me. You drugged me. You stole my work. Youdestroyedmy lab. Don’t stand there and pretend you’re still the good guy.”
The words land like punches.
I see Hammond’s shame.
“Power!” I bark again.
My teammate rips the panel open and yanks the main feed.
The lights flicker.
The screens stutter.
The hum of the room drops to a dying whine.
Outside, through a narrow window, I see the distant tower blink… then go dark.
In my earpiece, Chen’s voice is immediate. “Signal dropped. Drones are drifting?—”
Riley’s eyes lock on mine. “They’ll fail safe,” she says fast. “They’ll auto-land if they lose the control channel. They’re programmed to?—”
“Because you built them right,” I murmur.
Her throat tightens. She blinks hard, like she’s fighting tears.
Chen’s voice returns, clipped and relieved. “Confirmed—both drones are descending. No impact. No casualties. Attack stopped.”
A breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding tears out of me. I turn back to Stanton. “You’re done.”
His face twists. “You have no idea who you’re dealing with?—”
I lean in close. “Oh, I do.” Then I step back and nod to my team. They drag him toward the door.
Hammond stands frozen, eyes darting from Riley to me like he’s looking for a way out of the wreckage he made.
“Dr. Hammond,” Riley says, voice trembling with betrayed grief. “Why?”
He swallows hard. “They offered funding. Influence. A seat at the table. Your program… your program was going to be swallowed by bureaucracy and buried. I?—”
“You sold me,” she says, quiet and deadly. “You didn’t save me.”
His shoulders slump.
And I feel nothing for him.
Not anger. Not satisfaction.
Just emptiness, because whatever he used to be in her life, he chose to become a threat.
I step toward Riley. My hands shake when I reach for the ties at her wrists—not from fear, but from the force of holding myself together. “You hurt?” I ask, voice rough.
She shakes her head quickly. “Just… groggy.”
“Look at me,” I say, and she does instantly.
Her eyes are wet. Furious. Alive.
